Travis Scott and his ex, Kylie Jenner, are launching competing hard seltzer brands around the same time, with Scott’s Cacti 2.0 on March 15 and Jenner’s new brand Sprinter on March 21.
“Insiders” claim Scott feels Jenner “ripped his idea” for a hard seltzer, only launching her Sprinter drink “out of spite” after their split in January 2023, the Daily Mail reported this week.
Cacti versus Sprinter
The Cacti 2.0 gets its name from the fact that it’s a new continuation of Scott’s Cacti hard seltzer in 2021. He was in a relationship with Jenner at the time and had to stop production after his infamous Astroworld tragedy.
During the Astroworld Festival on Nov. 5, 2021, held by Scott at NRG Park in Houston, a tragic crowd crush resulted in the loss of eight lives on the day of the event, with two more succumbing to injuries in the subsequent days. Scott faced lawsuits following the Astroworld festival tragedy due to allegations of negligence and inadequate crowd control measures to his event that reportedly had about 50,000 raving fans, according to New York Magazine.
The deadly event had an impact on Cacti, and on Dec. 12, 2021, the drink was temporarily discontinued, CNN reported.
“After careful evaluation, we have decided to stop all production and brand development of CACTI Agave Spiked Seltzer,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement, CNN cited. “We believe brand fans will understand and respect this decision.”
The soft relaunch of Scott’s hard drink comes on the heels of his new 2023 album, “Utopia,” released through Cactus Jack, his record label, and Epic Records on July 28, 2023.
“Utopia” was the most commercially successful hip-hop album of that year, with approximately 500,000 album-equivalent units sold and 650 million global streams in its opening week of release, according to Vibe Magazine.
Riding on this success and planning to unveil Cacti 2.0 with new tropical flavors and a redesigned can, Jenner emerges with her drink, marketing Sprinter as high-quality vodka soda.
Sprinter will come in four flavors: Black Cherry, Peach, Grapefruit, and Lime. It will be sold in an eight-can variety pack for $19.99, with the light seltzer having 100 calories per serving, the U.K. tabloid reported.
Cacti 2.0 are also 100 calories and comes in four different flavors: Paradise Slice (Tropical Fruit), Tropical Twist (Pineapple & Mango), Citrus Haze (Lemon Lime), and Berry Splash (Strawberry).
Both influencers’ seltzers have a considerably moderate ABV (alcohol by volume) level, with Sprinter at 4.5 percent and Cacti 2.0 at 5 percent.
The competing drink launches seem to signal a business rivalry between the formerly romantic partners as they expand their respective brands.
The initial launch of Scott’s Cacti drink in March 2021 was a booming success. Forbes reported on March 31 that his drink surpassed prominent hard seltzers like Truly Hard Seltzer and Mike’s Hard Seltzer, and it achieved the highest first-week sales rate for a variety pack in Anheuser-Busch’s history.
The start of 2021 seemed promising for Cacti, with Anheuser-Busch announcing a $1 billion investment to increase production of hard seltzers and canned cocktails in the U.S. Additionally, Scott’s Cacti entered the hard seltzer market with a 3.2 percent share, surpassing market shares of VIZZY Hard Seltzer, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Seltzer, and Coors Seltzer, according to Neilsen-tracked multi-outlets data, Forbes cited.
Seeing this success, one could imagine Jenner sought to do the same with her own original twist.
In their on-again, off-again six-year relationship that included two children, Scott-Jenner shared a Beverly Hills mansion together was bought for $14.4 million that was listed for $21.9 million in 2022 following a breakup, and once more on March 4 for about $18 million, listed by celebrity real estate agent Josh Altman.
