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market share but also carve out a new market for those who wouldn’t usually seek out energy drinks. “Existing energy drink brands are founded on a love of high-octane activities, sport and endurance/ performance,” Mr Barrington said, “whereas, MTV Up! has identified a gap in the market that services music lovers and experience seekers. “Our aim is to become synonymous with everything music, festivals, partying and having fun.” Frucor helps overcome category barriers Frucor Suntory says it uses NPD in key categories such as energy drinks to help break down category barriers to entry. “For example, one of the key barriers to entry for the energy drink category is consumers’ concerns around health,” the company said. “Frucor Suntory has contributed to helping overcome this hurdle by launching V Sugar Free Blue – a sugar- free version of one of the best-selling V SKUs, V Blue. This product went on to become one of the best sugar-free energy SKUs launched into the P&C channel in the last three years \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[IRI MarketEdge, AU Convenience data, first 13 weeks to 18/10/20\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\].” In terms of advice for maximising beverage sales, Frucor Suntory suggests: • Availability – ensure that your beverage assortment is optimised and caters to all beverage need states. • Visibility – ensure beverages have sufficient visibility in-store, not just in the main chiller, but also in front-of- store impulse fridges. • Display – ensure that you utilise impactful point of sale and displays to excite consumers and drive incremental purchases. • Value – focus on shopper-centric pricing to drive sustainable category growth and avoid category devaluation. BEVERAGES BEVERAGES COUNCIL HAILS SUGAR REDUCTION PROGRESS The non-alcoholic beverages industry’s commitment to cutting sugar content in drinks via its ‘sugar reduction pledge’ is said to represent the nation’s first pan-industry commitment by a sector to influence a “small part of the complex issue of obesity” by providing more choice for Australians in their drink options. According to Australian Beverages Council CEO Geoff Parker, the pledge, launched in 2018, represents a commitment by the industry to reduce sugar by 20 per cent on average over the period 2015-2025, to be achieved by average reductions in total sugar content per 100ml. He says the Council’s October 2020 progress report for the period 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2020 showed that signatory companies (Asahi Lifestyle Beverages, Coca-Cola Amatil, Coca-Cola Australia and PepsiCo) were “well on track towards this goal”. “With 2015 baseline sugar content at 6.02g per 100ml, data collected up to 30 June 2020 revealed that sugar content had dropped to 5.31g per 100ml, resulting in a substantial 12 per cent reduction in sugar in the five and half years since measurement commenced, making the industry a full two per cent ahead of timeline targets,” Mr Parker said. “This result has been made through a portfolio renovation agenda that has been in place for over a decade now, and which includes increasing sales volumes of low and no sugar options, reformulating existing recipes, new lower sugar recipes, increased promotion and marketing of low and no sugar products, and smaller pack and portion sizes, as well as transitioning vending machines to include more low and no sugar products.” Mr Parker adds that the beverages industry is “rising to the challenge” of reducing sugar in a range of beverages to offer people more choice than ever before. “The beverages industry knows it can only play a small part in addressing a much larger problem, and we encourage other sectors of the food supply to follow the lead and develop their own pledge, be that for sugar, salt or fat,” he said. “Together we can make a real difference.” MAR/APR, 2021 CONVENIENCE WORLD 37