Introducing Atoka, the first brand from Ocean Spray’s new innovation incubator

BOSTON — Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. is launching Atoka, the company’s first-ever new brand. The line of herbal plant-based beverages is the first offering debuting from Lighthouse, Ocean Spray’s new innovation incubator.

Lighthouse’s Atoka brand portfolio includes tea tonics, oat milk elixirs and herbal shots in four herbal blended flavors:

Atoka beverages will launch as test market in the Boston area and then roll out across the country in January 2020.

“Atoka is the first new brand to be incubated here in Boston at the Lighthouse, indicative of our emphasis on an intensely innovative, agile approach to product development and cultivating a culture of innovation throughout the organization,” said Rizal Hamdallah, global chief innovation officer at Ocean Spray. “Atoka brings Ocean Spray into an entirely new category of wellness drinks.”

Lighthouse was founded to “inspire collaboration, creativity and ingenuity,” Ocean Spray said, and to create new products that resonate with a more diverse audience. Because Ocean Spray sees rapid innovation as a critical growth driver, Lighthouse will ideate and bring to market new products at a five-month speed.

“Our Lighthouse incubation team is set to tackle the most interesting challenges we face as a food and beverage industry today and position Ocean Spray at the forefront of change,” Mr. Hamdallah said.

Ocean Spray’s Lighthouse incubator will be headed by Santi Proana. He joins the company after spending a year in Tyson Foods, Inc.’s Innovation Lab, where he aided in the development of the new Raised & Rooted brand and Yappah! Chicken Crisps.  Mr. Proana also was senior associate brand manager for Tyson, and before that was senior associate brand manager for the Kraft Heinz Co.

“The Lighthouse incubation team is uniquely structured with strong entrepreneurial talent filling key positions and designed to push boundaries, and through that process we’ll continue learning,” Mr. Proano said. “We are committed to accelerate innovation within only five months from idea, test and then market launch.”