AriZona Iced Tea’s 99-cent price tag is a winner

Since 1992, the towering 23-ounce can of AriZona Iced Tea has sold for 99 cents. While inflation and shrinkflation are rampant with other consumer goods, AriZona is using earned and social media to remind consumers of their consistent pricing. Here’s how AriZona stacks up against its competitors and which audiences the brand is reaching.

Iced tea brands’ value-for-money over the past 5 years

AriZona’s Value score, a net measure of whether consumers believe a brand delivers good value, has hovered around 25 over the past five years. Among the four iced tea brands that YouGov tracks, AriZona trails only Lipton, which is perhaps more known for its bagged tea. AriZona is way ahead of more iced-tea-focussed competitors Snapple and Nestea, both of which have seen a slight decline in Value in the same period.

While AriZona Value scores have been consistently high, there are some notable variations. During the rampant inflation of 2022, AriZona became something of a media darling for its consistent pricing, earning placements in the LA Times, NPR and elsewhere. It partly did so by ads and social posts on the theme of inflation. During the same period, the brand’s Value score rose from 23.9 at the beginning of the year to 28.1 in September before returning to 23.1 in 2023.

Another dramatic boost in Value occurred last spring, rising from 23.9 on June 16 to 29.1 on November 14. This beginning of this run coincides with a very well-publicized interview with CEO Don Vultaggio, in which he reaffirmed his commitment to the 99c price tag. In this interview, covered in People and elsewhere, Vultaggio swore that he would keep fighting for the consumer and trying to hold to his original price of 99c.

While this interview was widely covered, AriZona’s social media presence may also fuel positive brand perceptions.

AriZona’s meme-heavy social game lands with younger audiences

AriZona is known for eschewing very expensive advertising channels, such as Super Bowl tv spots. Instead, the brand relies on its presence on store shelves and strong word-of-mouth influence.

While its presence on store shelves has always been the main focus, it also runs active and popular accounts on Tiktok and Instagram. The accounts promote the beverage in online meme vernacular. Sipping the iced tea is “very demure”, while founder Vultaggio is “based,” “goated” and “sigma.”

AriZona’s Tiktok account did particularly well last year. During the period when Value perceptions were rising, the account made several posts, including reposted memes about inflation, that garnered millions of views and likes.

Who are these posts reaching? According to BrandIndex data, AriZona’s marketing (social and other) is most effective at reaching millennials. For most of last year, more than 12% of millennials had seen some form of ad from the brand in the past two weeks. AriZona can also reach Gen Z but does so less consistently than with other age groups.

The aim of brand social accounts isn’t just to serve ads, it’s to help generate word-of-mouth among consumers. The chart below suggests that AriZona’s social game could be sparking a conversation among Gen Z among whom the brand’s word of mouth score rose to 22.1% in October of 2024, meaning that more than one in five Gen Z consumers had recently talked about AriZona with family or friends.

Word-of-mouth scores are also relatively high with millennials, though not many baby boomers seem to be discussing this particular brand of tea.

As 2025 brings a mood of economic uncertainty and inflation worries, AriZona continues to use its social accounts to playfully promote itself as a shelter of price stability, sometimes at the expense of other brands.

Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of more than 500 adults between February 27, 2020 and February 27, 2025. Learn more about BrandIndex.