Traditional flavours are fighting for space in the chiller with exotic newcomers that don't depend purely on price. Karen Dempsey reports The forecast for flavoured carbonates in 2001 is upbeat ­ but only if the sun shines often enough and long enough this summer. "Flavoured carbonates is one of the most weather responsive categories," says Sue Garfitt, director of planning at Britvic Soft Drinks. "The nature of the product means it's all about refreshment so hot weather actively brings consumers in." Britvic's modelling tools have come up with an even more optimistic outlook. Garfitt says that flavoured carbonates are on track to reach a 16% compound growth figure over the next five years. ACNielsen values the category at nearly £815m in take home sales which is just a 2.4% increase on sales over the past year up to March 24 (growth the previous year, from March 20 1999 to March 25 2000 was actually up 15%). Bullish Britvic predicts that if the summer is good, and if chillers are well stocked with single serve products, then the take home market could increase by 5% this year. The consumer certainly isn't stuck for choice when it comes to carbonated alternatives to cola. The entry point to the category is generally orange or lemon and lime, which Britvic says are the most popular among the 10 to 15-year-old target audience ­ and which it is certainly continuing to focus on this year. Tango is getting £6m marketing support this year. The core product, Tango Orange, has been reformulated with 10% more fruit and the product has been given a new pack design and logo. "We're going to make a big splash about it this summer," says Garfitt. The splash is hitting TV screens with the next phase of the Tango Inside campaign, as well as a youth-targeted sampling campaign across the UK. There is also a big push this summer on the 500ml size. "We are using field resources to drive a chiller programme where the 500ml is heavily featured," says Garfitt. And an on pack instant redemption offer called Tango Talk will give consumers free time on their mobile phones. Britvic is particularly hoping for good weather as sales for Tango are down 13.6% and for Tango Diet down 18.4%. Similarly, sales of Britvic's lemon and lime brand 7UP are down 12.7% for the standard and down 23.6% for the light version, according to ACNielsen figures. Coca-Cola Enterprise's lemon/lime and orange offerings seem to have picked up where Britvic's have dropped off. Fanta is up 21.7% ­ and initial reports from CCE claim that the launch of Fancy Icy Lemon sold six months supply in just one month. CCE's sales and marketing director Ian Deste says: "Fanta Icy Lemon has exceeded all our expectations, with sales continuing to be incremental to Fanta Orange." The Fanta brand will benefit from a £4.4m media spend this year including a Fanta Best Mates challenge' ­ an on pack promotion that will give consumers the chance to star in the new Fanta TV ads. Sprite is also looking healthy, with 17% increase in sales ­ which will be buoyed by the £1.8m marketing support behind the brand this year. The theme is "urban" with a promotion to win exclusive urban gear as well as limited edition graffiti cans and bottles which will be on sale from May to August. But while traditional flavours have big budgets for big thirsts, they are likely to start feeling the squeeze as they have to jostle in the chiller with new, more exciting and more exotic flavours which are coming onto the market. Michael Wood, general manager, customer marketing at Vimto Soft Drinks, said: "Manufacturers have had to innovate to be ahead of the pack and come up with products that give people a point of difference so they don't have to compete exclusively on a price plaform." Wood also puts the flurry of new flavours down to changing consumer tastes such as the demand for energy drinks that has encouraged people to seek out new flavours. And there is what he calls the "squash effect" that is enticing older consumers into the flavoured carbonates category. He says: "Growth in the squash market, which we play a large part in, is coming from unusual flavours and is particularly driven by high juice. More adult flavours such as cranberry, peach and apple are driving the market in squash and they are coming across into flavoured carbonates." T&T Beverages has particuarly created feverish interest in the category. While it could have floundered anonymously as just another soft drink launch, its £2m sponsorship of the most talked about show this year, ITV's Popstars, was a masterstroke in making T&T a household name and in capturing the imaginations, and the pockets of a fickle teen audience. The whole raison d'etre of T&T, says md Dafer Alazri, was to "wake up the UK's taste buds. Our aim is to bring to the UK the flavours and trends found in West Coast America." Backed by a £10m investment to launch the range across Europe, flavours such as Jazz Berry (featuring berries such as rosehip, blueberry and elderberry), Citrus Zing, Cool Lemonade and Tropicombo (with guava, passionfruit and mango) combined with spring water burst onto the UK's (lightly) carbonated scene. The publicity machine was not tardy in whipping up the media frenzy, claiming that the T&T factory had to treble production to keep up with demand while Popstars was high in the ratings. It also claimed that nationwide sales were boosted 3000% compared with those in 2000. Well, such a jump wouldn't be hard on such miniscule sales last year. But ACNielsen records a more sober value sales total of £1.24m in the year to March 24 2001. Initial hype was fast and furious but once the pace has steadied T&T must devise other methods of staying in the public eye if it wants to continue to stand out from the big boys. However, whenever a new brand creates renewed interest in a category, other less mainstream brands and flavours can get the knock-on benefits. Stalwart brands seem to have benefited from having new life breathed into them by their brand owner and plan to ride on the wave of marketing activity, particularly in the summer. CCE is putting £4.4m behind Dr Pepper going into a new ad campaign and new graphics for the brand. ACNielsen shows an 11.8% increase in sales for the brand year on year to March 24 2001. D&G plans to run a national press and poster campaign for its Old Jamaica Ginger Beer brand. It has launched its Pineapple and Grape sodas in 2 litre PET bottles and introduced a "Kool Kat" brand image that will feature in forthcoming promotional activities. A sampling campaign for Tizer kicked off over Easter and an on pack offer was giving away free cinema tickets. And it will continue to sponsor pop programme CD:UK to reach its target 13 to 15-year-old audience. Scotland's favourite Irn Bru claims an 8% year on year increase in sales in England and Wales and Barr plans a series of promotions to help maintain buoyancy south of the border. An ad campaign will run on TV between May and August, and taxis dressed in Irn Bru livery are soon to be seen on the streets of London. The brand will continue to sponsor the Irn Bru Revolution at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, while a sampling team will target stores on their Irn Bru Benali Scooters. Irn Bru is also introducing a new look across the range to more clearly differentiate between the standard and diet variants. Packaging is becoming an ever stronger differentiator on the flavoured carbonates shelves, as Ben Shaws/ Chaudfontaine found when it launched sparkling fruit drink Parasol. Moira Rigby, UK sales and marketing manager at Chaudfontaine, says that when the company decided to bring the 20-year-old Parasol brand to the UK it wanted more stylish packaging to help it stand out. "When we looked at the UK market we could only see Coke or budget products on the shelf and we wanted to give consumers a stylish, tasty alternative," says Rigby. Parasol, with its ergonomic curvy 1.25 litre bottle initially came in four flavours ­ Fruits of the Forest, Orange, Lemon and ACE (with added vitamins). It launched into Tesco late last year, and is making headway into other multiples and the independent trade during 2001. Future plans for the brand this year include an impulse 50cl size and a new flavour, Paradiso. Princes Soft Drinks is claiming a 7.2% year on year rise in sales for Jucee Clear, a sugar free clear carbonate that was launched (on the back of Jucee squash and Jucee carbonate in cans for kids) to target young women. And let's not forget the plethora of organic carbonates that have also hit the flavoured carbonates market, many of which are banging the "more fruit, healthier for you" drum. The Santa Cruz Organic range, which includes Lemonade, Ginger Beer, Tropical Guava and Mango and Orange variants, claims to contain "60% more real fruit than its nearest competitor", and a Raspberry Lemonade variant will be available from May. Craig Abrahams, business development manager at Whole Earth Foods, claims that the organic soft drinks market was worth around £3m last year, with Whole Earth accounting for 30% of that. Its portfolio includes organic alternatives to cola and lemonade as well as Mountain Cranberry and Sparkling Orange. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}

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