Procter & Gamble's rollout of Sunny Delight in 1998 transformed the chiller cabinet. Clever marketing made it a must have drink in the lunchbox and massive marketing muscle kept the juice drink ­ which contains 5% fruit juice ­ in the headlines. But now it is losing share, although rivals have been generous in pointing out that when a product starts with phenomenal growth, there will inevitably be a levelling outperiod. However, P&G has not been resting on its laurels. It spent £16m on the brand last year which included £6m on a new low sugar Sunny Delight that it launched in June. And no one has managed to knock the brand off its number one position in the top 10 brand share table. Snapping at P&G's heels is rival Britvic's Juice Up, a juice drink containing 17% fruit juice, 8% milk, calcium and vitamins. Britvic put £8m behind the brand when it hit the retail scene nine months ago. Juice Up has been available in multiples in 1.3 litre bottles and 6x200ml packs, pitched against the P&G brand and targeting youngsters and their parents. Now it has moved into the convenience store sector with an exclusive 440ml "street size" in orange, berry and tropical flavours. Britvic claims that 12 weeks after the launch of Juice Up, fruit drink sales rose by 28% against a total soft drinks increase of 7.5%. However, time will tell whether it will succeed in taking the number one spot that P&G holds with Sunny Delight. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}

Topics