To be healthy isn’t just about taking out, it can be adding in.
Health has been a focus across food and drink for some time and the introduction of the soft drinks levy in 2019 focused people’s minds on the sugar content of beverages. As many soft drinks reformulated, products that some had previously considered healthy, such as juices and smoothies, had an especially challenging time. However, health is a multi-faceted and personal concept. By focusing on particular ingredients such as superfruits like acai and goji berries, as well as botanicals and herbs, some brands, even those whose products have a higher sugar content, have managed to strike a healthy chord. By identifying with people’s health needs and positioning themselves around the functional benefits of their products, smoothies for example have managed to grow by 2% despite the overall juices and smoothies category declining by 5% in the last year.
Innocent in position 7 increased their CRPs by 7% in this year’s Brand Footprint ranking. This was driven by their Innocent Plus range which achieved £6 million in sales in the first six months and 4% penetration. The most recent figures show that this has continued on an upward trajectory with the spend levels doubling.
The brand really captured the zeitgeist this year when they replaced their super juices with the Innocent plus range. Full of premium ingredients such as goji berries, spirulina and ginger, the juices are a mixture of fruit, vegetables, botanicals and all have added vitamins. Playing into the brand’s playful nature, the juices really stand out on shelf in an array of rainbow colours and new bottle shape.
Supported with a strong communications investment, including a campaign with Duncan James from the boy band Blue for their Bolt from the Blue variant, the juices were well supported when they launched in April 2019.
The launch attracted many additional shoppers – two-thirds of those buying the range were new to Innocent, and one-third were new to the category altogether.
Tropicana in position 9 looked to a new need, as research revealed 90% of people aren’t getting enough fibre. The launch of the Whole Fruit range was supported by a multi-million-pound advertising campaign.
Fever-Tree in position 17, with a CRP increase of 10% this year, included a selection of flavours using botanical ingredients in their range of premium tonics. Fever-Tree also launched a ready-to-drink range of gin and tonic and introduced mixers for dark spirits, taking the brand into new occasions.
Robinsons in position 4, had benefitted from the CO2 supply issues suffered by the carbonated category last year. This year there was continued but slower growth in the premium Creation and Cordials ranges which include botanicals. Refresh’d has performed well in the out of home market and Britvic launched a special summer edition for Wimbledon.
Hear more on why understanding consumers' drinking choices are vital to discovering future growth opportunities.
