With a company history as vibrant as its flagship brand, Big Red Inc., Austin, Texas, is ramping up its efforts in 2012 to expand its Big Red brand throughout the United States as well as to honor the loyalty of those who have enjoyed the flavored carbonated soft drink (CSD) throughout the brand’s 75-year history.
Most of the time, people have a good idea about which types of beverages contain high amounts of sugar, sodium or calories. What they might not know is the extent of a product’s nutritional value — or lack thereof. For food and beverage consumers, seeing is believing.
With the onset of so many emerging categories in the industry — kombucha, coconut water, relaxation drinks — coupled with line extensions, the number of SKUs warehouses need to accommodate continues to grow.
Hydrocolloids provide solutions for new formulations
February 13, 2012
As beverage-makers dream up new formulations to address the gamut of consumer requests, such as natural, diet, functional or indulgent products, new recipes often can spur the need for new solutions from ingredient suppliers. In response, hydrocolloid manufacturers have developed portfolios of binding ingredients that are able to perform in new applications.
As legend has it, the Fountain of Youth is a spring that restores youth to anyone who drinks from it. Because the fountain is a bit difficult to find, many people have settled for beauty treatments such as lotions, serums and plastic surgery. However, what’s arguably more important than looking young is keeping the human mind young, and beverage-makers are creating drinks that help do just that — and they’re not nearly as difficult to find.
In packaging, conformity is not necessarily a negative value. Unlike individuals who dare to be different, when it comes to labels, conformity is an advantage for the shrink and stretch materials that can contour to the innovative sizes and shapes of beverage packaging. And the results are the same as a person with pink hair or a trend-setting style: the ability to stand out from their peers.
Package design, marketing and price point for Malibu rum were all designed with a relaxed, casual summertime occasion in mind. However, a plethora of occasions and consumer types opened the Purchase, N.Y.-based Pernod Ricard brand’s eyes to new opportunities. By diversifying its portfolio, Malibu aims to appeal to more consumers more often throughout the year.
When it comes to children’s nutrition, parents are faced with the challenge of finding products that meet their nutritional preferences, but also appeal to their children. But the challenge extends beyond parents and begins with the manufacturers. Beverage-makers are tasked with developing products to help bridge the gap between nutritional demands and pleasing taste profiles.
The old adage goes that people drink to recognize both good and bad times. This, unfortunately for the beer, wine and spirits industry, is not the case. As with many other consumer packaged goods (CPG) segments, wine industry growth rates have dropped during the last three recessions (1991, 2001 and 2008-2009) and immediately after these recessions ended, industry growth resumed.
Gordon Wade, chief executive officer of the Category Management Association (CMA), Wimberley, Texas, mentioned during an interview for this month’s Channel Strategies article an interesting observation about the industry’s explosive growth.
Packaging can be an important, yet difficult decision for beverage-makers. In this month’s category focus article about kids drinks, Sarah Theodore, global drinks analyst for Mintel Food & Drink, Chicago, notes that the kids market has been a little bit slow to embrace packaging innovation, but is starting to pick up steam. However, resealable pouch packages, the benefits of which include on-the-go convenience, have begun to catch on in the category, she says.
When it comes to category management, retail experts often agree that beverage manufacturers are on the leading edge of understanding assortment and placement of their products within retail outlets. Paul Weitzel, managing partner at Willard Bishop, Barrington, Ill., attributes part of the segment’s success to the direct store distribution (DSD) system used by many manufacturers.
Patrón Spirits, maker of Patrón XO Cafe and Ultimat Vodka brands, has partnered with GoCharge, a manufacturer and distributor of mobile device charging kiosks, to gain exposure in 50 New York City bars.
PepsiCo debuted its new Diet Pepsi marketing campaign, “Nothing Refreshes Like a Diet Pepsi,” during the 69th annual Golden Globes awards show in January.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group debuted its new “Always One of a Kind” advertising campaign for Dr Pepper that continues the brand’s 125-year celebration of originality.
Within the variety of liftgate styles, each is meant to improve truck loading and unloading, especially when the shipping or receiving location does not have a loading dock, making manual loading and unloading necessary. Liftgates can increase delivery speed, particularly with heavy cargo.
Children can get crafty when it comes to eating vegetables. They can push them around their plates to try to make it look like they’ve eaten more than they have; or they might hide them in their napkins or underneath other food. The last resort for most kids is actually eating the vegetables. However, manufacturers and parents alike are hoping that incentives and constant exposure to vegetables might help these picky eaters adapt.