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Product:
Fevertree tonic water
Company:
Fevertree
Launch date:
february 2005Fevertree tonic water aims to satisfy sophisticated consumers’ thirst for a good-quality mixer with their premium spirit.
The newcomer claims to be the only totally natural Indian tonic water, made with natural ingredients of essential oils, fruit distillates and real quinine blended with carbonated Icelandic spring water.
The idea for the company and brand name came from the old name for the quinine plant, The Fevertree, due to its power to suppress fevers.
Increasingly concerned with the fact that consumers mix super-premium vodkas and gins with low-quality mixers, the co-founders of Fevertree, David Bromige and Andreas Versteegh, set up the company to develop a range of high-quality mixer products to match the trend towards premium spirits.
“A great deal of effort and resources are put into producing high-quality spirits at high costs to meet the refined tastes of modern consumers. Surprisingly, consumers then pour artificial and genetically modified mixers in with £20-plus bottles of vodka and gin,” said Bromige. “To us it seemed crazy to spend that much on a fabulous spirit just to drown it in an inferior mixer.”
The newcomer, which comes in a 200ml bottle (rsp: £1.20) and is bottled in Iceland, is sold in posh department store Selfridges, as well as in a number of independent regional retailers.
The mixer is also being launched soon in “one of the multiples”, according to the company, which said it is also in close discussions with independent retailers nationally. And the company feels confident that it is on to a good thing.
“Our expectations for the brand are high as we feel this sector has been neglected and exploited, with low expectations leading to low-quality products,” said Bromige, who has a background in design and branding.
He is also the owner of The Drinks Consultancy, which specialises in new brand development for the drinks industry. Versteegh formerly worked in venture capital banking.