‘Disproportionately benefited’: Ocean Spray CEO Tom Hayes on going viral and expanding into new categories

It’s been a crazy year for Ocean Spray.

The 91-year-old cranberry product company not only saw an increase in sales over the last year, but went viral on TikTok. It saw increased demand in 2020, according to CEO Tom Hayes. “Ocean Spray as a category leader has probably disproportionately benefited [from the pandemic],” Hayes said on the Modern Retail Podcast.

This episode was recorded live at last week’s Modern Retail Summit. There, Hayes gave a fireside chat -- talking about the company’s product development strategy and how it tried to ride the TikTok wave. Last year, a TikTok user named Nathan Apodaca videotaped himself on a skateboard listening to Fleetwood Mac while drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice. It went viral, and the company’s products flew off the shelves.

The Ocean Spray team was forced to react. Before going viral, Hayes said the company’s social media strategy was more traditional. “If I were to put a picture on it, it might be that Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving,” he said. Now the company is “trying to move the brand to be a little more edgy, and to be a little more attractive to the younger consumer.”

TikTok aside, Ocean Spray has other big plans. It recently unveiled new products -- including a dried fruit snack and a caffeinated sparkling drink -- and is trying to establish itself as a category leader outside of just cranberry juice.