an editorial supplement to The Grocer The new liquid gold There's much work going on with water, the most dynamic soft drink either side of the border, and brands must counter the booming own label players to prevent it becoming a commodity. Elaine Watson reports Water remains the most dynamic sector of the Irish soft drinks sector, with Ballygowan the undisputed market leader, beating off stiff competition from Coke's recently revamped River Rock, Kerry Foods' Kerry Spring and continental imports Evian and Volvic. Bottled at source in Newcastle West, Co Tipperary, BG has a huge 50% share of the republic's market by volume, 25% of the market in Northern Ireland and the number one position in the UK licensed trade. Business is booming and work is now in progress to increase bottling capacity by 30%, says regional director Stuart Wootten. While BG has listings in all the major multiples in the UK and the republic, the real growth is in the pubs, clubs and convenience stores, says Wootten. Supermarkets drive volume, but single serve packs drive value. The biggest problem is trying to convince sceptical landlords that you can charge a premium for water: "There's still a mentality in some sectors that water is free." In the multiple retail sector, the challenge is to tackle the fast growing own label players and prevent water from becoming a commodity: "You have to work harder to justify the price, maintain margins and focus on the strength of the brand and the quality of the product. It has to be positioned right." Ballygowan's flavoured carbonates have been relaunched as a low calorie drink aimed at women between the ages of 15 and 34. "The secret is to catch them young," says Wootten. "We're trying to foster a habit they will take with them throughout their lives." However, the lightly sparkling variant Ballygowan Light has been scrapped after failing to catch on with consumers. "It was a flawed concept really," explains Wootten. "Light suggests diet' but the standard BG product is low calorie anyway. It just confused people." On a domestic front, BG's biggest rival is Tipperary Mineral Water. A wholly owned subsidiary of Gleeson Group, the second largest independent distributor of drink to the republic's licensed trade, Tipperary has had a recent image makeover. Now the second largest bottled water producer in Ireland, Gleeson also owns Crystal Springs still water and major national carbonates brand Country Spring. A key competitor of Ballygowan's parent company Cantrell & Cochrane, Gleeson is focusing its marketing spend on Tipperary and Country Spring this year with extensive TV coverage and radio ads in the pipeline, says freezer pops brand manager Paul Kelly. Other players to watch in the republic are private label specialists Glenpatrick and Shannon. Glenpatrick supplies flavoured spring water, carbonates and alcohol to continental European retailers and most multiples in the republic and the UK, while Shannon has major contracts with Tesco and Superquinn for still and flavoured water, fizzy orange and cola. In the province, Ballygowan leads the field, closely followed by River Rock from Coca-Cola Bottlers', Antrim Hills, which has just launched a new sports drink flavoured with spring water, and Rocwell, with its new Wild Irish range of premium flavoured waters. But the Irish also like their fizzy drinks. The largest diversified soft drinks company either side of the border, operating in almost every sector of the non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks market, Ballygowan's parent company Cantrell & Cochrane also manufactures and distributes 7Up and Club soft drinks, giving it three of the top 10 grocery brands in Ireland. The acquisition of the Irish 7Up franchise in January was a huge coup, says marketing manager Michael McArdle. C&C's portfolio includes Ballygowan, Mi Wadi cordials, Club, Cidona and TK carbonates, and the Irish franchise for Pepsi, 7Up, Volvic and Evian. Club is the clear market leader in the republic's carbonated orange market, while TK is the leading "value" fizzy drinks brand, with 6.5% of the carbonates market by volume and Cidona is the number one carbonated apple drink with a 4% share (ACNielsen 2000). Mi Wadi adult cordials have also grown from an 8% share of the cordial market to 29.1% over five years, now neck and neck with Robinson's. TK, Mi Wadi and Club have all been launched successfully in the province, but GB is a different kettle of fish, says McArdle. "It's not a key part of our carbonates strategy. The market is far too dominated by the multiples." Besides, with the soft drinks market in the republic growing 14% year on year (ACNielsen), there is plenty of room for manoeuvre at home. Other brands to watch include Finches, the best selling adult soft drinks label from United Beverages, and the real mover and shaker in UB's soft drinks portfolio ­ energy drink Finches Fuel launched in 1998. The energy drink comes in orange, and lemon & vitamin E. Though still tiny in comparison to market leaders Lucozade and Red Bull, the brand is growing rapidly, says Wiseman, who is working on a carefully guarded new product in the still soft drinks category. Given that energy drinks accounted for just 4% of volume sales of soft drinks from audited retail outlets in the Republic in 1999, but contributed 8% of value sales, it is easy to see why a successful contribution to this category could prove a huge moneyspinner. {{SUPPLEMENTS }}