From a Shirley Temple lounge to a lineup of nostalgic, dessert-inspired energy drinks, Bloom Nutrition brought its consumer-facing experiential playbook to the convenience-store trade show floor at NACS 2026.
“Everything we do at Bloom is building a world, whether online, in person, at trade shows,” says Erica Tam, senior vice president of brand at Bloom Nutrition. “For consumers and buyers, it’s almost like an adventure.”
The brand just started stepping into IRL experiences about a year ago, with among notable moments a 7-Eleven takeover at Coachella, fueling up consumers before the festival with energy drink samples and upping the energy with DJs, photo moments and road-trip giveaways.
The same vibe powered the over-the-top pink booth at NACS 2026. “We treat every audience that comes to our experience as if it’s our core audience, no B2B, or B2C,” says Kim Trieu, experiential marketer at Bloom. “They’re just humans. That means that our spaces won’t change format because it’s a trade show.”
At the booth, attendees could grab a cold drink and take photos on a plush couch of the Shirley Temple lounge, see themselves in a carnival-style mirror and, of course, sample upcoming Iconic Treats flavors, like Cotton Candy, Strawberry Shorty and Lemon Freezy. (Exhibit partner: Good Time Creative)
“At trade events, it’s especially important for us to bring innovation in a way that’s exciting and not another sales pitch,” Tam says. “Rather than just having a booth with cans, we wanted to bring the entire thematic so buyers would really remember it and feel like they can’t wait to put it in their store. We treat them almost like a consumer because it’s a very emotional experience.”
Bringing Viral Brand to Traditional Trade Show
Bloom Nutrition has built a strong social media presence through TikTok and creator-driven marketing, using viral content and influencer partnerships to turn its wellness products into consumer hits. How did that translate to activating at a trade show focused on convenience-store products?
“Leaning into who we are, because it’s easy to shape-shift to appeal to everybody,” Tam says. “We’re female-leaning brand, we’re fun, we’re whimsical, we’re wellness, and that’s what makes us stand out. The other part is leaning into innovation and helping buyers see what’s next.”
Data-Driven Flavor Innovation Made Fun
To test out new flavors, Bloom created a Flavor Innovation Lab last year, where fans can sample unreleased flavors and vote on their favorites, getting real-time market validation, strengthening emotional connections and making launch decisions based on actual customer reactions. “We know our consumers are flavor obsessed,” Tam says, “They rank them and vote on what comes out next, and those flavors make it into our strategy.”
Bloom’s active Try Your Best (TYB) community helps drive the success of activations like the Flavor Innovation Lab and other brand experiences, giving fans opportunities to engage with the brand while providing insights that shape future strategies. “Everyone felt so excited to try unreleased flavors. They were hyping it up online, and it was probably one of our biggest social virality moments,” Trieu says.
The flavor Strawberry Rose, for example, wasn’t a top initially a top choice, but it was ranked high by the community and was launched for Valentine’s Day online only, creating lots of social buzz and selling out within two weeks.
Coming Up
For 2027, Tam says the brand plans to focus on creating a few larger marquee events that showcase the brand’s entire portfolio. “Bloom has completely taken over the internet; it’s all over TikTok, no matter where we pop up, there’re always lines across our activations. I’m most excited about giving people an opportunity to interact with our brand in real life and setting the standard for what events can be. We’re going to do it the Bloom way.”
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