Arla is trying create an on-the-go market for milk - and take on soft drink giants Pepsi and Coke - by launching 500ml PET bottles of Cravendale.

At the moment, the only milks targeted at the market are flavoured. The dairy is hoping its new bottles of whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milks will fill the gap - and account for 20% of Cravendale’s volume sales within five years.

The bottles, which initially launch into food-to-go chillers in 220 Asda stores on 14 May (rsp 75p), have been deliberately designed to echo the look and shape of carbonated drink bottles, which they will go head to head with.

Cravendale had a strong enough USP to compete with soft drinks, claimed Cravendale brand manager Sophie Macauley, adding that the brand would “talk to consumers about milk being more hydrating and an alternative to carbonated drinks”.

The milk fixture was currently very “value driven” and talking to new food-to-go customers was a “key part of our growth”, she said.

“We know from our consumer research that packaging for 500ml is a key influence when making purchase decisions,” she added.

Cravendale already sells a 500ml carton, which is not targeted at the food-to-go market but will also be converted to the new PET bottle. Next month, the new bottles will also go into Rontec-owned service stations, where they will be sold as part of a meal deal.

The average price of a two-litre bottle of Cravendale across the mults is £1.72 or 43p per 500ml [Brandview.co.uk], so at 75p, the 500ml PET bottle will command a 32p premium.

If Arla hits its target of generating 20% of Cravendale volume sales from on-the-go formats, this would equate to about 50 million litres a year. Cravendale is worth about £152.3m [Nielsen MAT 24 December 2011].

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