John Joseph Bello (born March 30, 1946, in New Britain, Connecticut) is an American entrepreneur best known for creating and building the SoBe brand of New Age beverages.
Upon his graduation from Tufts, Bello was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy and served a four-year tour that included a tour of duty in South Vietnam as supply officer for PBR Mobile Base II on the Mekong Delta with a mission of combat support for several Patrol Boat, River (PBR) squadrons. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V for meritorious service.[1] In 1972, after Vietnam, Bello was assigned to the Moffett Field Naval Air Station Moffett Field as the Navy Exchange Officer. He resigned his commission as a Lieutenant to attend graduate school.
Early business career
Bello entered the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College, graduating with an MBA in 1974. While at Tuck he was named an Edward Tuck Scholar. After Tuck, his first business position was in brand management at General Foods, where he worked on Sanka and Maxwell House coffee brands. After an interim experience in athletic footwear as product director for Keds Brand footwear,[2] he moved on to a strategic planning and marketing functions in the Pepsi Cola Division of PepsiCo[3] where he worked on Mountain Dew and the Pepsi Challenge.
National Football League Properties
In 1979, he joined NFL Properties (NFLP), the marketing and merchandising arm of the National Football League, where he ascended to the position of president of NFL Properties in 1986. At NFLP, he helped transform licensed apparel from a small business selling novelty merchandise in specialty stores into everyday fashion transcending fan-wear, sold at major chain sporting goods and department stores. In addition to creating NFL ProLine authentic sideline gear and apparel made available to consumers to so that they could "Wear What the Pros Wear", Bello drove major sponsorships with Coca-Cola, Canon, Gatorade, Miller Brewing, GTE, Apple, Citibank, American Airlines and many consumer food products through a Sunday insert program called the "NFL Tailgate Party." He also played a major role in creating the NFL Experience, a fan festival that is now a fixture and fan favorite at Super Bowls. Also, Bello helped organize the American Bowl series of international pre-season games starting with the 1986 game between the Refrigerator Perry-led Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys played in front of 81,000 fans at London's Wembley Stadium. Bello's innovative approach to promoting and enhancing the NFL experience included bedecking pro golfer Payne Stewart in NFL Team colors as he played on the tour, sponsoring NASCAR racers, women's lines of NFL team clothing and made for TV events such as the Quarterback Challenge and The NFL's Fastest Man.
During Bello's tenure at NFLP, the business grew from $30 million in retail sales, sponsorships and publishing to $3 billion when he left in 1993. Bello is broadly credited with creating the model by which every major sports league now operates.[4] He was ranked 46th on Sporting News' list of Most Powerful People in Sports in 1992.
Bello left NFLP on Labor Day in 1993 amid controversy. He resigned as a result of losing a power struggle with then-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue[5] who was seeking to consolidate league operations, including the previously independent NFL Properties under the commissioner's office.
SoBe Beverages
Upon his departure from the NFL, Bello took a position as VP Marketing with Brooklyn, New York-based Ferolito, Vultaggio and Sons, makers of AriZona iced tea. At AriZona he joined a former Pepsi colleague Mike Schott, then COO of AriZona Beverages. After four months he left AriZona to create his own beverage company in partnership with Tom Schwalm that became the South Beach Beverage Company, named after the trendy South Beach area of Miami.
The new company, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, marketed so-called "New Age" beverages—exotic juice blends and ready-to-drink iced teas—but faced formidable competition from its predecessors, including Snapple, Mystic, Nantucket Nectars and AriZona. South Beach needed a point of differentiation in the marketplace, so Bello added trace elements of various herbs and nutrients[6]—such as ginseng, ginkgo biloba, guarana, carnitine, Echinacea, yohimbe, taurine and praline—and promoted their benefits beyond hydration. He launched a "3G" line of drinks, which included supposed energy boosters like ginseng, ginkgo biloba and guarana. He also expanded the brand's iced tea portfolio to include more exotic offerings such as Black Tea, Oolong Tea (with bee pollen), Green Tea (with Echinacea) and Red Tea (with selenium). Under Bello's direction, SoBe launched a line of "3C" Elixirs (containing calcium, carnitine and chromium) in varieties such as Orange-Carrot, Orange-Tomato (including lycopene), Energy (with guarana, yohimbe and arginine), Power (taurine, creatine and proline), Zen Blend (triple ginseng tea with schizandra), Wisdom (with ginkgo biloba, St. John's wort and gotu kola) and Eros (with dong quai, damiana, foti and zink).[7] Other fun SoBe products included Lizzard Blizzard, Tsunami, Fierce, Courage and Long John Lizard’s Grape Grog.
He created the "dueling lizards" design[8] and took a lead role in the company's guerrilla marketing effort, proclaiming himself as the "Lizard King" in radio advertisements. He gave the brand an "attitude" by enlisting athletes who were somewhat out of the mainstream—such as golfer John Daly and downhill skier Bode Miller—as official spokespersons for the brand. The SoBe marketing team also wooed independent beverage distributors, offering them very high margins and a small chunk of equity in the company.[9]
From its creation in 1995, SoBe's sales rose rapidly and climbed to $275 million by 2000.[10] The following year, the brand rode the "good-for-you" trend among American consumers to break the quarter billion dollar barrier in 2000.[11] SoBe was sold to PepsiCo for a reported $370 million cash on October 30, 2000.[12] Bello remained with Pepsi overseeing SoBe until early 2004.
By the end of 1999 the company had sold 14.8 million cases of drinks and taken in $166.4 million. South Beach challenged rival AriZona in sales and was pursuing Snapple for leadership in the new age drink category. Less than pleased, rival AriZona slapped the company with a lawsuit claiming that SoBe had copied its bottle design or stolen trade secrets.[13] Then Judge Sonia Sotomayor ruled in SoBe's favor denying a preliminary injunction. Legal action proceeded and persisted on the federal and state level until 2007, long after the company had been sold to PepsiCo. In 2007, the court dismissed all AriZona claims on summary judgement[14]
In 2001, Bello was named Ernst and Young's National Entrepreneur of the Year in the Consumer Products category for his accomplishments at SoBe.[15]
Other Business Activity
Upon leaving Pepsi, Bello formed JoNa Ventures, a family investment vehicle that included among other endeavors investment and active involvement in Firefighter Brands, Soup Kitchen International, Eye and PresbyopiaTherapies and Beso Del Sol Sangria.
With former NFL associates Bruce Burke and Peter French, Bello formed Firefighter Brands, a social enterprise intended to benefit local firefighting units with revenues generated from the sale of Firefighter Branded coffee, chips, chili's, trail mixes and energy drinks. The project was supported by a group of well to do and high-profile community minded investors but ultimately failed due to lack of cohesive co-operation among various firefighting entities.
In 2005, Bello invested in and became chairman of Soup Kitchen International, a company he helped found that markets soups created by Al Yeganeh, the New York-based soup chef made famous as the "Soup Nazi" on the popular Seinfeld TV show, for retail stores, and developed franchised restaurants.[16]
In 2006 Bello became a general partner of Sherbrooke Capital, a venture capital firm that provides growth capital to early-stage health and wellness companies that led the $6.35 million equity-financing round for IZZE in early 2005. In the spring of 2006, Bello was appointed Chairman of the Board of the IZZE Beverage Company, a maker of sparkling juices.[17] Izze was subsequently sold to PepsiCo for an undisclosed sum. Currently, Bello is in partnership with his college roommate and fraternity brother Dr. Lee Nordan serving as chairman of Eye Therapies. ET is a development and marketing company for products in the OTC ocular care and cosmetic market. In addition, Bello led an investor group that owns a substantial interest in Beso Del Sol, a line of all natural sangrias imported from Spain. He serves as chairman of the board in that enterprise. In 2016 Bello was elected chairman of the board of Reed's Inc.(REED, NYSE - since delisted and now OTC), a publicly traded company. Formed in 1989, Reed's manufactures and markets a line of ginger beers and naturally brewed soft drinks under the Virgil's brand name.
Personal
Bello's outside activities include: charter trustee, Tufts University; board of advisors for athletics, Tufts University; board member, Dartmouth College's Tuck Center for Private Equity; board member Gordon Entrepreneurial Institute at Tufts University and board of directors, New York Council Boy Scouts of America and former trustee, the Hotchkiss School. He has lectured at colleges and MBA programs including Tuck, NYU, Yale, Cornell, Georgetown, Tufts, Dartmouth, Gonzaga and at high schools and at business forums and symposiums about his NFL and SoBe experiences and entrepreneurship.
Bello resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Rye, New York, with his wife Nancy. The couple has three grown children: Lauren, Lindsay and John Michael, as well as four grandchildren: Ben, Archie, Bea, and Poppy.
Related Research Articles
SoBe is an American brand of teas, fruit-juice blends and enhanced water beverages owned by PepsiCo. The name SoBe is an abbreviation of South Beach, named after the upscale area located in Miami Beach, Florida. In the past, the SoBe name has also been licensed for gum and chocolate products. SoBe switched from glass bottles to plastic bottles for all of its beverages in 2010.
Bawls is a non-alcoholic, highly-caffeinated soft drink.
Iced tea is a form of cold tea. Though it is usually served in a glass with ice, it can refer to any tea that has been chilled or cooled. It may be sweetened with sugar or syrup, or remain unsweetened. Iced tea is also a popular packaged drink, sometimes mixed with fruit-flavored syrup such as lemon, raspberry, lime, passion fruit, peach, orange, strawberry, and cherry.
Dr. Enuf is an American brand of soft drink bottled by Tri-City Beverage in Johnson City, Tennessee. It is a lemon-lime flavored drink Dr. Enuf is fortified with several water-soluble vitamins. Its marketing slogan is "Enuf is Enough!"
Rockstar is an energy drink created in 2001, which, as of 2020, had a 10% market share of the global energy drink market, the third-highest after Red Bull and Monster Energy. Rockstar is based in Purchase, New York. As of January 2013, Rockstar Energy Drink was available in more than 20 flavors and in more than 30 countries. Since March 2020 Rockstar is a part of PepsiCo.
Kas is the brand name of a soft drink produced by PepsiCo. It is made in grapefruit, orange (yellow), lemon (greenish-yellow), bitter, and apple flavors. Kasfruit juices are also offered in multiple flavors. Kas is available in Spain, Mexico, Dominican Republic and France, and was available in Portugal, Brazil and Argentina during the 1990s.
Arizona Beverages USA is a producer of many flavors of iced tea, juice cocktails, and energy drinks based in Woodbury, New York. Arizona's first product was made available in 1992, to compete with Snapple. Both companies originated in New York.
Enviga is a Nestea carbonated canned green-tea drink. Enviga is a trademark of Nestlé licensed to Beverage Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé. It is available in three flavors: Green Tea, Tropical Pomegranate, and Mixed Berry. According to Coca-Cola, Enviga burns 60 to 100 calories per three 12-oz.(330 ml) cans due to its high EGCG and caffeine content. The makers of the drink were sued for making fraudulent health claims about weight loss, and agreed to settle and cease repeating them.
Sparks was an alcoholic beverage that debuted in the US market in 2002. The original formulation contained caffeine, one of the first alcoholic beverages to do so. Its other original active ingredients included taurine, ginseng and guarana, common to energy drinks.
Mountain Dew Amp is an energy drink brand produced by PepsiCo. At the time of its introduction in 2001, Amp Energy was initially distributed under the Mountain Dew soft drink brand. Beginning in 2009, it was produced and labeled under its own stand-alone trademark name, but in 2018, reverted to using Mountain Dew branding. The beverage is packaged in both 16-ounce and 24-ounce cans, and is sold in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Lebanon. In 2009, Amp Energy was the number four energy drink brand in the U.S. in terms of overall retail sales.
Brisk is a tea and juice brand managed by the Pepsi Lipton Partnership, a joint venture founded in 1991 between PepsiCo and Unilever. In 2012, PepsiCo announced Brisk had surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue, making it one of the 22 billion-dollar PepsiCo brands.
Lipton is a brand named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton who started an eponymous grocery retail business in the United Kingdom in 1871. The brand was used for various consumer goods sold in Lipton stores, including tea from 1890 for which the brand is now best known.
Beaver Buzz is an energy drink line produced in Canada Double D Beverage Co. of British Columbia, under the brand of Canadian Beaver Buzz Energy. The beverages include taurine, caffeine, Siberian Ginseng, Guarana seed extract and various vitamins, and uses cane sugar instead of commonly used high fructose corn syrup. Product variations include Citrus, Green tea, Saskatoon berry, Root Beer, Black Currant, Original, Pineapple Mango, and Canadian Punch flavours. Beaver Buzz contains 180 mg caffeine in a standard 473 ml can.
Energy shots are a specialized kind of energy drink that contain a dose of the stimulant caffeine in a small amount of liquid. Whereas most energy drinks are sold in cans or bottles, energy shots are usually sold in 50ml bottles. Energy shots can contain the same total amount of caffeine, vitamins or other functional ingredients as their larger versions, and may be considered concentrated forms of energy drinks. "Micro shot" energy drinks also exist, containing only 1–5 teaspoonfuls of liquid.
A functional beverage is a conventional liquid food marketed to highlight specific product ingredients or supposed health effects.
Izze, stylized IZZE, is an American sparkling juice brand produced by the Izze Beverage Company, which is owned by PepsiCo. The company is based in Boulder, Colorado. It was founded in Boulder in 2002 by Greg Stroh and Todd Woloson, and was purchased by PepsiCo in 2006.
References
↑ New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Volume 7, No. 1; Spring 2004
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
