Kids

Children's health and diet are hot topics at the moment thanks to the government's high-profile campaign to tackle obesity and its ban on junk food advertising to children.

While this is good news for bottled water as carbonates are being replaced by still water in pack lunches, there is still room for growth, says Jonathan Kemp, commercial director of AG Barr, owner of Strathmore.

"Hydration in schools is inadequate," he says. "Research conducted for Sodexho shows that children aged eight to 16 drink on average no more than four glasses of water a day, of which only one and a half are drunk outside the home.

The latest figures from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey indicate that 40% of 11 to 18 year-olds drink less than the FSA's recommended 1.2 litres per day, he says, adding that the government's ban on sugar and artificial sweeteners in soft drinks should drive water and fruit juice sales.

"We know parents want to choose healthy soft drinks for their children to take to school in their lunchboxes."

Strathmore has launched a unique bottle shape in still and sparkling variants for schools that has sold more than 4.2 million bottles.

Britvic has also been making waves. "Since last year's launch of Fruit Shoot H2O, the brand has become the largest kids' water brand," says Andrew Marsden, Britvic's marketing director. And its Drench brand also has a new pack design and a sports cap, targeted at the youth market.

Highland Spring is reconfiguring the Highland Spring for Kids pack. From spring, the 12-pack format will come in two six-packs to make it easier for retailers to merchandise and consumers to put in the fridge.

Nestlé Waters has been building on its Buxton Kids range, which is growing 41% year-on-year. "A major piece of NPD for Nestlé was the 250ml Buxton Kids plain water. It now comes in an eight-pack and sales are growing strongly," says trade controller Catherine Morris.

There has also been growth in Buxton Kids flavoured waters, launched a year ago. The bottles come in an easy-grip format and feature the sporty character Billy Buxton and friends for "playground appeal".Another feature is the label that gives kids space to write their name.

Meanwhile, Panda reformulated its children's soft drinks by adding real fruit juice and removing artificial flavours, added sugar and artificial colours, and also launched a Panda Spring range of still flavoured waters last year.

"Panda Spring has achieved triple-digit growth showing there is a serious demand for water aimed at children," says Panda brand manager, Claire Witt.n