Tom Barbitta

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  www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/oct/05/soft-drink-appr - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/5/2008    Last Visited: 10/6/2008  

  Tom Barbitta, the vice president of marketing for Cheerwine, said that the soft drink is now in its 91st year, and that there's nothing like it on the shelf by name or flavor.
  
  "We're not a cherry cola.We're a unique one-of-a kind flavor.That being the case, plus the fact that we've got tremendous authenticity in our history, we think now is the time to really liberate this brand, really allow consumers all over the country to enjoy it," Barbitta said.
  ...
  Carolina Beverage declined to give its sales figures, but Barbitta said that the company had a record year in 2007.
  ...
  "If you position yourself in marketing and in branding as a unique, one-of-a-kind flavor, you will appeal to a lot more consumers than if you talk about yourself just being a cherry soft drink," Barbitta said.
  ...
  "This is a great brand in the great community of Salisbury, and we're very excited about the future," Barbitta said.

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  www.charlotteama.com/newsletter/cama_newsletter_2008100 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/1/2008    Last Visited: 2/18/2009  

  SPEAKER: Tom Barbitta, Carolina Beverage Corporation
  ...
  Tom Barbitta has over 20+ years of sales and marketing "global brand" experience focused on innovative brand strategy, bringing new products to market, and sales planning and execution. With his tenure, Tom has acquired a deep understanding of consumers and their behaviors relative to "where brands today need to be". His experience spans a wide range of U.S. based multinational company's specific to the food, beverage and tobacco categories.
  
  In 2005, Tom joined the Carolina Beverage Corporation as their Vice President of Marketing overseeing the marketing of Cheerwine, www.Cheerwine.com.

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  www.salisburypost.com/Area/091808-cheerwine-main-story- - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/18/2008    Last Visited: 9/19/2008  

  Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing for Cheerwine, said Wednesday the "restaging" of the brand is like a 91-year-old startup.
  
  Most brands build their marketing around a function, he said.Cheerwine will be building its brand around function and emotion.
  
  "The emotional part is how it makes you feel and where it takes you," he said.
  
  Barbitta said Cheerwine has always been about "chilling," enjoying life's pleasures, being with friends and family and "taking time to relish the little things of everyday life."
  
  In its restaging, the company has concentrated on three elements:
  
  - Staking out a space in the cluttered soft drink market that no other brand has claimed.
  
  - Bringing in a new marketing firm, the Hauser Group of Atlanta.
  
  - Redesigning Cheerwine's packaging by hiring the Girvin design group of Seattle.
  
  "We're very excited about all three parts of this," Barbitta said.
  
  Gone will be Cheerwine's most recent marketing campaign which included a Cheerwine News Team and its efforts in "protecting your right to drink Cheerwine," Barbitta said.
  
  Hauser has "creative bandwidth" that will help power Cheerwine to a whole new level, he said.
  
  "It's what this brand needs," Barbitta added.
  
  Cheerwine has been about chilling and kicking back for 91 years, Barbitta said.The new marketing campaign will be aligning things in a contemporary way so it resonates with all segments, especially young people, Barbitta said.
  
  In the past year, Cheerwine did consumer research that included student focus groups at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Wake Forest University.
  
  The new packaging is a "Back to the Future"' approach.
  
  It reaches back into the past a bit with the logo design, but it also takes the drink's assets and makes them new again, Barbitta said.
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  Barbitta sees 2008 as being a rollout year for the new branding and 2009 as a breakout year.
  
  "We think everything is queuing up for an exciting 2009 and beyond," he said.
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  Barbitta said Cheerwine also can reintroduce itself in the Carolinas, where it's strongest and where people from other parts of the country have moved without any knowledge of the brand.
  
  The transition to the new packaging is a "soft conversion," Barbitta said.As existing inventories are depleted, they will be replaced over the coming weeks and months by the new look.

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  www.beverageworld.com/content/view/34451/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/27/2008    Last Visited: 2/29/2008  

  "We wanted to announce Cheerwine's arrival into the New York market and to introduce it into a scene that only Bloomingdale's can pull off," said Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing for Cheerwine, in a phone interview after the two-day event.
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  According to Barbitta, there have been documented reports of Northerners buying lots of Cheerwine in the Carolinas and sharing it with friends just to get a taste of home.The company's 90th birthday party, held last year, attracted 4,000 people, some driving from as far as Pittsburgh to attend.Cheerwine's office also often receives letters from soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking the company if they can send the soda overseas. (Cheerwine usually doesn't actually send the drinks over, but does send shirts and other such merchandise, and promises to meet the soldiers at the army base or at their homes when they return safely.)
  
  "It's the taste of home.It's part of the culture down here," said Barbitta.
  
  Cheerwine eventually hopes to bring its sodas, and the personal touch that goes along with its flavor, to markets nationwide.Cheerwine beverages are already distributed in parts of 15 states, all east of the Mississippi River, but its Bloomingdale's event marks its first foray into the competitive New York City market.But Barbitta sees no reason to be afraid of entering such a difficult playing field.
  
  "Small is becoming the new big, and we've got a backstory that appeals to people," said Barbitta.
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  "If you eliminate colas from the story and just look at the flavors, you've actually got a pretty positive story to tell," says Barbitta.

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  www.beverageworld.com/content/view/34393/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/14/2008    Last Visited: 2/14/2008  

  "In our 90 years of history, Cheerwine has been discovered and cherished by consumers all over the country, but this event with Bloomingdale's will mark our first foray into New York City," says Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing for Cheerwine.

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  www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=3946 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/28/2006    Last Visited: 3/13/2007  

  "We are delighted to partner with ZAP and support their cause of a cleaner environment," says Tom Barbitta, VP of Marketing at Cheerwine.

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  www.kttc.com/News/index.php?ID=19398 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/1/2007    Last Visited: 10/23/2007  

  We have this thing called authenticity, four generations managing the company, and we have momentum," said Cheerwine vice president Tom Barbitta.
  
  The stumbling block in the multi-billion dollar beverage business is distribution.
  
  The larger companies have a lock on their own bottling and distribution network, but Cheerwine has been around so long it can operate in the independent chain and just recently broke into the California market.
  
  "I think our size is actually our advantage, small becoming the new big.People seeking out companies and brands just like us," Barbitta said.
  
  The Carolinas are attracting people and jobs from all over the country, and even the world.
  
  That's another big help.

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  www.charlotteama.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=384710&co - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/26/2008    Last Visited: 2/18/2009  

  It features general chapter news and a compelling interview with Tom Barbitta, VP Marketing of Cheerwine (distributed by Carolina Beverage).

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  www.salisburypost.com/Area/091808-cheerwine-in-NYC-side - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/18/2008    Last Visited: 9/19/2008  

  "This is a great fit for us; according to most Carolinians, Cheerwine and barbecue are as perfect a match as peanut butter and jelly" said Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing for Carolina Beverage Corporation, the manufacturer of Cheerwine.

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  chiefmarketer.com/disciplines/branding/0601-cheerwines- - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 7/5/2009  

  "There's a sense of discovery with the brand," says Tom Barbitta, marketing vice president for Carolina Beverage.

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