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B U S I N E S Swww.new–nutrition.com AUGUST 2008 ISSN 1464-3308VOLUME 13 NUMBER 10

T H E J O U R N A L F O R H E A L T H Y E A T I N G , F U N C T I O N A L F O O D S & N U T R A C E U T I C A L S

Pages 22-23

Continued on page 4

Pages 5-6 Pages 10-12

Kellogg Germany drops ‘Drop a Jeans Size’ and

focuses on satiety

Juice drink delivers red wine benefits

without the alcohol

End of the line for

omega-3?

Despite the concept having already floundered in Europe, Unilever will attempt to market in the US a product that can lower blood pressure – and it has seemingly chosen to follow a strategy very similar to that which has already completely failed in Europe.

Promise SuperShots for Blood Pressure is a daily-dose “fruit blend” drink which delivers a dose of 350mg of potassium in each 3 oz (100 ml) bottle, an amount similar to that contained in a serving of a fruit that is a good source of potassium, such as a banana. It is the fi rst product of its kind ever to be launched in the US.

The product will be sold in three fl avours: strawberry banana, peach apricot, and mixed berry. Promise SuperShots will be available nationally, priced at approximately $3.99 (€2.50) for a pack of four bottles.

Unilever makes second attempt at blood pressure business

According to the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee, a daily intake of 4,700 mg of potassium is needed to lower blood pressure. The packaging of SuperShots carries the following statement:

Potassium helps fl ush sodium one shot at a time

The package also says prominently:

A good source of potassium to help control blood pressure

And this is supported by the statement that:

Diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

Unilever says that Promise SuperShots are consistent with the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan since they are made with fruit, contain a good source of potassium per serving, are low in sodium, and are fat and cholesterol free. The DASH dietary plan provides 4,700 mg of potassium per day for a 2,100 calorie diet. This diet is recommended by all U.S. health organizations as an effective dietary pattern for lowering blood pressure. DASH emphasizes fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, nuts and legumes.

No further nutrition or ingredient information was available at the time of going to print, nor was there any to be found on Unilever’s website and Unilever declined to be interviewed about the launch.

Promise SuperShots are being launched as an extension of the 40 year-old “cardiologist approved” Promise brand, which is the umbrella brand in the US for Unilever’s products that help people maintain heart health or lower their cholesterol. Promise spreads are positioned as a heart-healthy alternative to butter or margarine.

Also in the Promise portfolio are cholesterol-lowering plant sterol-based products. These are: Promise Activ spread – formerly known as Take Control, it’s a brand which has been in decline for some years – and Promise Activ SuperShots, launched in early 2007. A serving of Promise Activ SuperShots provides 2.0 g plant sterols. These “daily dose” dairy drinks had retail sales of $30 million (€19 million) in 2007, according to IRI data.

AUGUST 20082

N E W N U T R I T I O N B U S I N E S Sw w w. n e w - n u t r i t i o n . c o m

C O N T E N T S & C O N TA C T S

LEAD STORY

1,4 Unilever makes second attempt at blood

pressure business

NEWS ANALYSIS

3 Probiotic focus is the future as omega-3

hits the end of the line

5-6 Kellogg Germany drops “Drop a Jeans

Size’ and focuses on satiety

7 Regulator rules burgers healthier for

kids than cheese

EDITORIAL

8-9 Three into one doesn’t go

10-12 End of the line for omega-3?

CASE STUDIES

13-14 OMEGA-3: Omega-3 make-over keeps

heart healthy juice brand in its niche

15-17 WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: Slim-Fast

slide slowed by satiety

18-19 WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: From

‘diet’ to ‘lightly functional’: weight

management in Germany

20-21 WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: Skinny

promises zero

22-23 BEVERAGE: Juice drink delivers red

wine benefits without the alcohol

24-25 BEVERAGE: Beetroot’s nitrates make

for a healthy heart?

NEW PRODUCTS

26-28 Functional & healthy-eating new

product launches

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

30 A polite reminder to our subscribers

NEW CASE STUDIES

31 Superfruit: strategy for success

32 Probiotics: Successful Strategies from

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Actimel .............................3,9,18Alli ..........................................16Benecol .....................................3Bossa Nova .............................22Calpis .......................................4Campina............................18,19Coca-Cola ....................14,18,20Contrex ..................................19Corny .....................................19Danone .......................3,4,8,9,18Dollar General .......................17Embodi ..............................22,23Emmi ........................................4Fruit Solutions ........................14Gatorade ................................22Gerolsteiner ............................19

Glaceau Vitaminwater ...........20Healthy Heart ........................13Heart Wise .............................13HeartBeet ...............................24Heinz ......................................24Hero Foods .............................19Hipp .......................................19Holland & Barrett ..................24James White Drinks ...............24Jenny Craig ............................15Kellogg ........................5,6,18,19Kmart .....................................17Linée.......................................19Martek ..........................10,12,14Minute Maid .....................13,14Müller ..................3,8,9,10,12,18

Naked Juice ............................22Nestlé ..............................9,10,19New Covent Garden Soup .....24Nu-Mega ................................11Nutri-System ..........................16Ocean Nutrition Canada ..12,14Optimel ..................................18Optiwell .............................18,19Pepsi ..................................13,20Pom Wonderful .................14,22Pro.activ .......................10,12,24Promise Activ ........................1,4Pronova .............................11,12Propel .....................................20Puleva .....................................10Sambazon...............................22

Simply ....................................14Skinny Water .....................20,21Slim-Fast .......................15,16,17Special K ........................5,16,19Target ................................20,21Tip Top ..................................10Tropicana ..................4,10,11,13Unilever ........1,4,10,11,12,15,24Valio .........................................4Vitality ......................3,8,9,10,12Wal-Mart ...........................15,17Weight Watchers ....................15Whole Foods Markets .......22,23Yakult ....................................3,8

COMPANIES AND BRANDS IN THIS ISSUE

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AUGUST 2008 3


N E W S A N A L Y S I S

German dairy Müller’s UK operation has dropped omega-3 from its Vitality range in a major relaunch of the “three-in-one” functional dairy line. The fish oil has been sacrificed in a £2.5 million ($5 million/€3.1 million) shake-up of the pot and drinking yoghurt range following a slump in its fortunes.

Nielsen data show sales of the Vitality yoghurt drink declined 14.7% to £36 million ($71.5 million/€45 million) in the year to 6 October 2007, although it remained the second largest brand in the sector behind Danone’s Actimel and ahead of Benecol and Yakult.

The pot yoghurt product fared better – increasing sales 4% over the same period. But with a value of £25 million (£49.6 million/€31.3 million) it was placed just 14th in a ranking of the UK’s top pot yoghurt and dessert brands.

The revamp, Müller’s second of the Vitality brand in two years, will reposition Vitality as a gut health range with probiotics and prebiotics after research by the Germany-based dairy company found that consumers considered inclusion of omega-3 in yoghurts “confusing”.

The removal of omega-3 is something of a u-turn: the company added it to the range just three years ago. Vitality pot yoghurt was originally launched in 2000, the yoghurt drink in 2002.

“The 3 in 1 message we adopted for Vitality and the fact that it incorporated three key functional benefits in one product – prebiotics, probiotics and omega-3 – achieved good cut-through,” said Chris McDonough, Müller UK’s marketing director. “But we found in our new research that people simply weren’t interested in having omega-3 in a yoghurt product, particularly one that is aimed at adults.

“We believe it was the right move to incorporate omega-3 in Vitality in 2005 when there was a surge in demand for

Probiotic focus is the future as omega-3 hits the end of the line

Briefly it was Europe’s third-biggest omega-3 fortified brand and was held up as an example of how adding omega-3 to a product can help increase sales. But not any more. Müller Vitality is to drop omega-3 from its ingredient list – becoming the second major brand this year to do so – and focus instead on probiotic benefits. Consumers, we now know, aren’t very motivated by omega-3. RICHARD CLARKE reports.

products enriched with omega-3, and it has contributed to the brand’s success over the last three years. But the category has moved on considerably. Consumers are now more aware of other foods where they can obtain their intake of omega-3 and having omega-3 as an ingredient in Vitality is not a key requirement for the vast majority of yoghurt and yoghurt drink consumers.”

Besides removing the fatty acid, Müller has more than doubled the prebiotic content in Vitality from 1g to 2.5g and references the fact that each pot and bottle now contains 50% of the daily amount recommended by

AFSSA, the Food Safety Agency of France, for digestive health.

Müller has also reduced the size of the Vitality yogurt pots from 150g to 125g to bring Vitality in line with other functional yoghurt propositions in terms of calorie, fat and sugar content.

Müller is supporting the Vitality relaunch with an initial six-month £2.5 million ($5 million/€4 million) marketing spend which will include sampling and provision of information leaflets in-store, website activity plus a consumer press campaign.

Spearheading the re-launch is a new brand proposition: “Keeps your tummy working like clockwork”. This message is reinforced visually through graphics included in new pack designs which focus on the health benefits of Vitality and feature a trio of different size cogs working in unison.

The largest of the three cogs is etched with the word ‘prebiotics’, the second cog with ‘probiotics’ and the third with ‘digestive health’. The wording on the packaging also highlights the fact that Müller Vitality is a “Pre+Probiotic low fat” yoghurt and yoghurt drinks range.

“Although functional yoghurts are still performing relatively well their growth has slowed over the past year and the yogurt drinks sector has

already plateaued and started to decline,” said McDonough. “People have started to opt out of the functional sector and we have undertaken in-depth consumer research to understand why this is happening.

“The research found that the main barriers to purchasing these products are a lack of trust that the products have any real benefit, a perception that it’s all about hype and not real science, and a scepticism that the products do not contain enough of the beneficial ingredients to make a real difference. These are all issues which need to be addressed if we are going to bring in new users and encourage lapsed users to return to the category and that’s what we are aiming to do with the relaunch of Müller Vitality.

“Our pre-launch research has demonstrated that Vitality ‘Keeps your tummy working like clockwork’, coupled with the prebiotic plus probiotic message, is easily understood by consumers and is a significantly more motivating reason to purchase the brand.”

Vitality yoghurt is available in 6 x 125g packs at a recommended retail price of £2.48 ($4.92/€3.10). Vitality yoghurt drinks are available in 6 x 100g packs priced £1.99 ($3.95/€2.49).

For a fuller analysis see Editorial on page 10.

AUGUST 20084



COMMENT: A FLAWED STRATEGY

Unilever’s strategy looks eerily similar to that which served the company so poorly in Europe, where, with a great fanfare, the company launched a blood pressure-lowering daily dose drink in the summer of 2005. As in the US, the product was launched under an umbrella brand already used for cholesterol-lowering foods and beverages (called Pro.activ in Europe) and carried a clear claim that it could help control blood pressure.

The brand was very well-supported by advertising and PR – the investment in the UK market alone amounting to $20 million (€12.5 million) – and Unilever expressed the belief that the blood pressure-lowering product could become as big as its cholesterol-lowering stablemate.

However, by the end of 2006 the brand had been withdrawn from every country in Europe in which it had been launched. In Europe Unilever’s strategy had two big factors stacked against it – and worryingly for Unilever’s management, the same factors are also playing against its latest launch in the US.

A NICHE CONCERN

In support of its US launch of SuperShots Unilever has cited medical statistics showing that high blood pressure is a major public health concern affecting 73 million Americans – nearly 1 in 3 adults. At the time of the European launch Unilever also cited medical statistics showing a high incidence of blood pressure problems among Europeans. But such medical statistics are no guide to building a market and no indication of

whether people will be motivated when they are in the supermarket to buy a blood pressure-lowering drink. In practice very few people have their blood pressure tested until they reach later life and even when they do there are a host of choices available to them to lower their blood pressure, ranging from taking up more exercise to changing their diet and lifestyle and taking prescription drugs. In Europe these alternatives have proven more appealing than blood pressure-lowering drinks and we believe that the US will be no different.

BUNGLED BRANDING

In the US the blood pressure-lowering product is being called “SuperShots” – the same name as the cholesterol-lowering product – and is being launched under the same brand, Activ. There is nothing to distinguish one product from the other except that the cholesterol-lowering variant is green and the blood-pressure lowering variant is blue. The only way the consumer will understand this is by taking the time to read the label closely (which most people in the supermarket don’t do unless they are among the niche of consumers who are the most motivated by a particular health issue). This error may have arisen from a desire to capitalize on the existing heart-health association of the Activ brand – but it may also result from the fact that, having dramatically trimmed back its brand portfolio a few years back, Unilever is very reluctant to launch any new brands. The similarity

between the two products can only serve to confuse and baffl e consumers – as it did in Europe, where Unilever already unsuccessfully followed exactly the same branding strategy back in 2006. That the American arm has chosen to adopt an approach that so clearly breaks the rules of good branding and good communication and has already failed in Europe defi es belief.

DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY, SAME BENEFIT

The only difference between Unilever’s latest effort and its failed European venture was that the US product is based on a large dose of potassium while the product in Europe was based

Continued from front page

on dairy peptides, licensed from Calpis in Japan. The ingredient technology on which the product is based is likely to be of little interest to consumers, whose only interests are taste, health benefi t and affordability. It is unclear why Unilever thinks that anyone other than people in the niche of consumers with a serious medical condition will be motivated to buy a product that’s high in potassium. Marketing the benefi ts of a high content of potassium didn’t deliver sales increases for Tropicana orange juice – which has long carried a blood pressure-lowering message on its cartons – nor for other products, such as breakfast cereals. The new SuperShots’ only advantage is convenience – and that has probably been negated by confusing branding.

PLANNING FOR THE NICHE

If, however, Unilever’s intention is to create a niche brand – but a very profi table niche brand – then SuperShots may survive. The Evolus blood pressure-lowering brand in Europe, where it is marketed in Finland by Valio Dairy and in Spain, Portugal and Switzerland by Valio’s partner Emmi, has been around for over six years and has a very strong niche position in those countries. Danone’s Danaten blood pressure-lowering brand also holds a strong niche in Spain. Whether niche brands fi t into Unilever’s management strategy is a debatable point. If they do then it will show that the company has learned that that is the nature of functional foods. If they do not, then we will know that Unilever’s business strategy remains mired in the belief that hope can triumph over reality.

Unilever’s Promise Activ cholesterol-lowering shots had sales in 2007 of $30 million.

Unilever launched a blood pressure-lowering dairy drink in Europe in 2005 and had withdrawn it by the end of 2006. Rival niche brands in Europe, such as Evolus, have continued to prosper. Unilever’s newest US launch follows almost completely the same strategy which failed in Europe.

AUGUST 2008 5



With the launch of Special K ProPlus breakfast cereals, Kellogg is completely repositioning its highly successful weight management brand as a “satiety” brand. Special K ProPlus is the first Kellogg breakfast cereal that specifically addresses weight management by offering an added satiety benefit. The product concept is built on the combination of soy-based proteins and fibre and it is promoted as “an alternative for all those whose lightweight breakfast didn’t hold up until lunch-time”. The new product’s launch is being accompanied by a total repositioning of the Special K brand which is seeing it drop its long-standing commitment to weight-loss diets.

ProPlus debuted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the end April. Sold in 300g carton boxes with a neutral, “bikini-free” design, it is the first Special K product also taking male consumers into its key target group.

Special K ProPlus delivers 14 grammes of protein, 12 grammes of fibre and 338 calories per 100g. The suggested retail price for a 300g pack is €2.99 ($4.74), a 40% premium over the conventional Special K range, which is itself a significant premium to “regular” breakfast cereals.

The ProPlus label states the following:

Do you also enjoy a tasty and healthy breakfast? A light meal in the morning is an ideal start for the day. Yet, how to keep hunger at bay until lunch time?

Special K ProPlus makes you feel full longer! It gives you a prolonged feeling of satiety thanks to a combination of delicious, protein-rich cereal clusters and

Kellogg Germany drops ‘Drop a Jeans Size’ and focuses on satiety

When the world’s biggest weight management brand shifts its positioning from “drop a jeans size” to satiety – and take an anti-diet stance – you’d better pay attention. For the first time in its European marketing history, Special K has launched a specific satiety product and is talking about suppressing hunger instead of dropping a jeans size. If the strategy works in Germany and Switzerland then it can only be a matter of time before the new product is rolled out to other markets. By KATI LESKINEN.

high fiber wholemeal flakes. Seasoned with fine honey, Special K ProPlus is a real treat – with only 2% fat content.

Scientific studies demonstrate that a meal high in fiber and protein prolongs the feeling of satiety. Feeling full longer diminishes cravings between meals, and makes it easier to stay in shape.

Kellogg’s first foray into proteins was only two years ago when it launched a family of protein-enhanced Special K waters and snack bars in the US (see New Nutrition Business July 2008). Whereas the American product line emphasizes protein, vitamin and mineral

fortification, the ProPlus range makes satiety its sole focus.

In Germany, satiety has been an underlying weight management trend for years, mainly thanks to an array of wholemeal products marketed with “feel full for longer” claims. In fact, the breakfast cereal aisle has become packed with fibre-touting products – a dangerous development for Kellogg’s premium positioning. A market leader has to anticipate where the arc of technology is going and race to embrace it first, even if it means cannibalizing the

existing product line.“ProPlus has a unique

offering. According to our research on the German market it is the only product in the traditional cereal category with added soy protein,” Karen Dudda, Brand Manager of Kellogg’s Special K, told New Nutrition Business. “In Germany, the general discussion on nutrition and balanced diet is becoming more present in the media. The specific cause-effect chain of protein and satiety might not be in the center of the discussion, but it is becoming more relevant in terms of new and more efficient methods of weight management.”

In the past, it was Kellogg who had successfully adopted one diet challenge program after another in support of its Special K brand. After realizing that many women tend to skip breakfast altogether, Kellogg adjusted its campaign to highlight the fact that women who regularly eat

AUGUST 20086



SPECIAL K GOES “DIET-FREE” IN GERMANY

The Special K brand is dropping its long-standing “drop a jeans size” and repositioning itself as an “anti-diet” brand, as the following examples from the Special K website in Germany show:

Welcome to the first diet-free community the world! You have just made your first step into a diet-free life: in our community can you meet like-minded people and exchange experiences. How beautiful life without a diet can be! Have fun!

Diet-free into the summer with Special K! Whether in the swimming pool or at the beach, the Special K beach towel marks your personal diet-free zone. Because at last you can have a good figure in a bikini without having to diet.

Diets prescribe what you are supposed you eat – and when you shouldn’t eat. They prescribe what’s naturally best – and things which don’t have any taste. They torment you with complicated nutrition plans, “must-do” lists and complex prescriptions for your life - none of which you actually have any time to follow.

And even if you obey all the rules, already, after a short time, you find yourself putting on weight again.

If you want to keep a good figure for the long term you should give yourself more flexibility. Healthy and diet-free living is only successful if you follow it on a long-term basis – and give sufficient clearance to enjoy eating, drinking, moving and relaxing.

SPECIAL K PROPLUS NUTRITION FACTS

Per 100g Per serving (30g plus 125g low-fat milk)Energy 1434kJ 825kJ 338 kcal 194 kcalProtein 14g 10gCarbohydrate 66g 32g- of which sugar 21g 14g- of which starch 45g 18gFat 2g 3g- of which saturates 0.2g 1.5gFibre 12g 5gSalt 0.45g 0.25gVitamin C 75mg (125% RDA)Niacin 22.5mg (125% RDA)Vitamin B6 2.5mg (125% RDA)Vitamin B2 2mg (125% RDA)Vitamin B1 1.8mg (125% RDA) Folic acid 250µg (125% RDA)Vitamin B12 1.25µg (125% RDA)Iron 8.8mg (63% RDA)

breakfast are slimmer than the ones skipping the first meal of the day. Now, Kellogg wants to steer clear of the whole dieting ideology. Its new slogan “Stop starving yourself and start to eat” encourages women to reverse their mindset about the usefulness of calorie counting.

As an anti-homage to its past diet schemes, the latest German consumer challenge is titled “Diet Drop-Off ” (in German: Diet-Abfalleimer). In its Special K website, diet-weary women are invited to share their worst slimming fads with the rest of the Special K community and to dump their diets in a virtual waste bin.

While TV or print advertising is not planned to support the launch of ProPlus, Kellogg is utilizing both the Special K package and website to communicate the satiety effect of proteins and wholegrain. Dudda concludes: “We are still in an early stage of launch but first indications are positive, so that we can assume that the concept is relevant to consumers.”

AUGUST 2008 7



The controversial nutrient profiling model underpinning the UK’s restrictions on TV advertising of food and drink to kids is to remain almost intact after an independent review panel declared it “scientifically robust and fit for its intended purpose”.

Large parts of the UK’s food industry detest the model, which evaluates products to establish whether they should be deemed high in fat, salt and sugar, primarily because it uses a fixed reference portion of 100g.

This means producers of popular kids’ products such as cheese and breakfast cereals have found themselves unable to advertise their products even though, they claim, children eat their products in far smaller portions than 100g.

Meanwhile, they argue, the model benefits products such as pizzas and burgers because they are eaten in far greater quantities than 100g, but can be advertised because their fat, salt and sugar content is measured in such a small portion.

The Food Standards Agency, the UK government’s food industry regulator, developed the model for Ofcom, its counterpart in the broadcast industry. The idea was to reduce children’s exposure to high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products at a time when concern is mounting over numbers of overweight and obese children in the UK.

The restrictions have been in place since April 2007, and the FSA reckons kids have been exposed to “far fewer” ads for HFSS food and drink products since then. Nonetheless, against a backdrop of public pressure to rethink the model, the FSA announced a review of it just 10 weeks after it was introduced. It denied this was in the face of opposition to the model – most prominently in the pages of trade magazine The Grocer, which ran a hard-hitting campaign called Weigh It Up! The FSA pointed out that, in fact, it had always promised to review the model one year after it came into use.

Fifteen months on from its introduction, and one review later, it is evident little will change for the industry. Chair of the review panel, Professor Mike Kelly, who is director of the Centre of Public Health Excellence at the National Institute for Health and Regulator rules that burgers are better for kids than cheese

Regulator rules burgers healthier for kids than cheese

By Richard Clarke

Clinical Excellence, gave the model a ringing endorsement. “The model is innovative, fit for purpose and has a real public health benefit,” he said.

Fellow panel member and head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council, Dr Susan Jebb, added: “Comprehensive testing by scientists in the UK and internationally has shown this model to be far more robust than others.”

Rosemary Hignett, head of nutrition at the FSA, said: “Children are already seeing far fewer advertisements for foods high in fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar, meaning the model is achieving its designed purpose.”

Announcing the findings of its review, the panel rejected calls for portion sizes to be adapted to suit typical consumption patterns, on the grounds that it would be difficult to agree on suitable portions, given the variation in the amount of food consumed by children of different ages.

The only concession made by the panel was to propose removing the model’s ‘protein cap’ to make it simpler to use. The cap prevents products that score highly on salt, fat and sugar from scoring plus-points for protein content unless they contain greater than 80% fruit, vegetables or nuts.

If this measure is agreed on – it is currently out to public consultation – it will benefit some manufacturers, primarily those producing breakfast cereals. It will enable companies to use protein as a positive ingredient either in reformulating existing ranges or when developing new ones.

Based on products in the market today, however, there will be little impact. The FSA itself points out that only 3% of the 877 foods that have previously failed the model would pass with the removal of the protein cap. The agency has even produced a list of those products and it’s interesting to note most of these would be considered adult products, anyway.

The cereals lobby remains unhappy, and adamant the model should measure their products according to a typical portion and not 100g. “This is a hugely disappointing response from the FSA,” said Kevin Brennan, marketing director at Kellogg’s UK. “They don’t have a scientifically sound model.”

Also dismayed by the panel’s intransigence is the dairy sector. Jim Begg, director general of trade body Dairy UK, said: “The review panel’s recommendations are now open to consultation. We shall look to convince the FSA that all nutritional profile models recognise the full nutrient balance of foods. This one doesn’t, and it excludes, for example, the dietary value of important vitamins and minerals which dairy contains in abundance. We shall also be trying to convince the FSA that a model based on a 100g portion size is inappropriate.”

The public consultation closes on 29 September, with the review panel due to make its final recommendations to the FSA in the winter. Any changes agreed will be finalised in early 2009.

AUGUST 20088


E D I T O R I A L

Once again, a group of marketers have learnt the hard way what so many marketers have learnt over the last 15 years of functional foods – if you want to market a brand effectively, keep the message as simple as possible. Adding new benefits serves only to confuse consumers.

Three years ago Müller Vitality probiotic dairy products were in about the worst position a brand can be in: third to market in the category, offering a benefit no different from established players, while the Müller brand was associated with the mass-market and price competitiveness (a strategy that had propelled the company to number one in the UK yoghurt market) and had little appeal to the higher value-added, lifestyle-of-health segment of the market.

The Vitality probiotic yoghurt and dairy drink brand had neither the benefit of a consistent and heavy promotional spend, such as market-leader Danone Actimel used, nor the benefit of being the “most scientific”, an uncompromising expert brand position, such as that of Yakult.

As a result Vitality’s sales growth never matched that of market leaders Danone Actimel and Danone Activia – and in fact the brand was left far behind. Vitality also suffered from a proliferation of SKUs – each of its 13 SKUs generated, on average, a quarter of the sales of Yakult’s worst-performing SKU.

Finally Müller resorted to a strategy which has been tried – and has failed – time and

Three into one doesn’t goagain for many brands in many countries: the functional food make-over. This is where you add a new ingredient and a new benefit to a brand in the hope of boosting flagging sales. Why Müller was – after so many years of functional food marketing – so unaware of the rules of the game that it chose this strategy is a question to which we do not know the answer.

Seemingly, the addition of omega-3 did at first achieve results – sales jumped 30% in 2006, the first full year in which Vitality was marketed as the probiotic and prebiotic brand that also offered the benefit of omega-3.

Omega-3, as we have said before in these pages (and also on pages 10-12 of this issue) is a niche concern, and it could well be that Vitality picked up the niche of consumers who are motivated by the benefits of omega-3. But once you’ve got them on board, there’s limited room for further growth on the back of the benefits of omega-3 – as Müller soon found.

Müller next tried to make a virtue of its products’ probiotic, prebiotic and omega-3 health benefits (see box for the way those benefits were communicated on the label),

calling it “3 in one” and adding a logo to that effect on the packaging of Vitality.

Curiously, at the same time as communicating multiple – and unconnected benefits – the company was also saying, apparently in flat contradiction of its own strategy, that consumers found “the science of functional food confusing and alienating and want simple clear messages they can understand”.

The term “prebiotic” is meaningless to most UK consumers and though many have heard of “omega-3s”, few could tell you what they are. Whatever Müller was thinking of, it clearly wasn’t applying the lesson about consumer confusion. And its “3-in-one” communication clearly wasn’t helping consumers, who walked away from the brand, resulting in a 14% decline in sales of the drinking variant in 2007.

One year on and everything has changed. Vitality has dropped omega-3 from its formulation (thus saving cost) and dropped any reference to omega-3. But now the brand is back to where it was in 2004, talking about “probiotic and prebiotic”. If we were Müller shareholders, and we are not, we’d be hoping that the company didn’t spend any money on

MÜLLER VITALITY – LABEL MESSAGES

Labelling on a 6-pack of Vitality daily dose drinks prior to its latest make-overincluded these statements:

Pre & Probiotic:• Can help to maintain a healthy digestive system

• Contains the ‘good’ probiotic bacteria La-5 and Bb-12

• Contains prebiotics which act as a food for ‘good’ probiotic bacteria

• A hectic lifestyle, poor diet, alcohol or antibiotics may disturb your balance of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria

Omega 3:• Omega 3 supplementation supports brain function

• Omega 3 can help to maintain a healthy heart (as part of a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet)

• The average UK diet contains only 50% of the omega 3 required (COMA report on Diet and Heart Disease)

• Every bottle of Müller Vitality contains 75mg of omega 3 (EPA and DHA)

A bottom-of-pack statement reads:

Research has shown that 5g of the prebiotic inulin each day can help to maintain a healthy digestive system as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. One pot of Müller Vitality contains 1g of the prebiotic inulin, 20% of this amount.

A Müller spokesperson told New Nutrition Business in 2007 that Vitality was re-launched with a new “3 in one” logo because the previous omega-3 based message “wasn’t getting through”. In 2008 the company changed its line, saying that Omega-3 “has contributed to the brand’s success” and then dropped Omega-3 from its ingredients.

AUGUST 2008 9


E D I T O R I A L

brand consultants or consumer researchers to achieve this new position – because it’s little different to the one that the brand held between 2002 and 2005. The packaging may be prettier, but in terms of brand positioning it’s a “back to the future” strategy, leaving Vitality as the “brand-in-the-middle”, stuck between powerful leader Danone and expert brand Yakult. If it didn’t work last time round, it’s hard to see how it can do any better this time.

Strangest of all is the use of the “prebiotic” reference in a market (the UK) in which both experience and consumer research has already made it plain that the term isn’t a motivator to consumers. Someone may have told Müller that “prebiotic” could provide a point of difference in a market which is dominated by two probiotic brands – and the fact that Müller has upped the content of prebiotic fibres in its products suggests it believes that this is the way to differentiate Vitality. If so, it has been sadly misinformed.

Nestlé, for example, already tried to use “prebiotic” to promote its market-leading breakfast cereal brands in 2006 and 2007. A multi-million dollar, multi-media campaign about the benefits of prebiotics resulted in no increase in sales of the brands – which hitherto had been growing successfully with a “wholegrain” message. As a result, earlier this year Nestlé dropped any reference to prebiotic, saying: “We found consumers were not motivated by the prebiotic messages.”

Dorothy MacKenzie, co-founder and director of international brand consultancy Dragon, agrees: “Our own research around this area has tended to find that people don’t really understand what prebiotics are.”

Nestlé has returned to the more compelling “wholegrain” message that served

RECENT SALES HISTORY OF MÜLLER’S VITALITY BRAND

Source: ACNielsen supermarket scanning data

DrinkYoghurt

2004

DrinkYoghurt

2005

DrinkYoghurt

2006

£23.6m($47m/€ 30m)

£7.1m($14m/€ 9m)

£32.4m($64.7m/€41m)

£17.7m($35m/€22.5m)

£42.2m($84m/€53.7m)

£24.1m($42.7m/€27m)

DrinkYoghurt

2007

£35.9m($71.7m/€45.7m)

£25m($49.9m/€31.8m)

£10m

£20m

£30m

£40m

£50m

£60m

£70m

£80m

£90m

£100m

£110m

£120m

DanoneActiviaDrink

DanoneActiviaYoghurt

2007

£103.3m($205m/€130.7m)

£117m($232.2m/€148m)

it so well.Müller Vitality’s travails are far from over.

It’s a case that shows how challenging it can be for functional brands that are neither the market leader nor the expert brand to establish a position in a market.

After dropping omega-3, Muller Vitality is back to where it was in 2004, talking about pro- and pre-biotic.

Nestle returned to its wholegrain message after it tried – and failed – using “prebiotic” to boost sales.

Vitality has been massively outsold by rival Danone’s Actimel and Activia brands and now is in a very distant second place.

AUGUST 200810


E D I T O R I A L

Two year ago we wrote that the flurry of omega-3 product launches happening at that time would mark the beginning of the real test of whether omega-3 could be as big as has often been forecast. Well now we know – and in 2008 we can see that it’s the end of the line for the dream that omega-3 fortified products can be big in Europe, and almost certainly it’s the end of the line in the US too.

While the omega-3 supplement business is thriving, and fish sales are up, omega-3 fortified foods and beverages have followed cholesterol-lowering plant sterols into a niche, driven there by consumers’ preference for supplements or foods that are natural sources of omega-3, such as fish, and by the difficulty of offering health benefits that consumers cannot quickly see or feel. All is not lost, however, and a few brands and a few leading omega-3 suppliers will prosper in this new niche future. And so, too, will suppliers of fish!

If there’s an expensive consultancy or “market analyst” report on your shelf that predicts a bright and booming future for omega-3 fortified products, do yourself and your company a favour, take it off the shelf and throw it in the waste-basket. As with plant sterols before them, omega-3s have been the subject of a massive amount of hype over the last five years and the omega-3 food and beverage market has been the

End of the line for omega-3?object of some of the worst examples of “fantasy forecasting” in our industry.Consider that:

• This year, what was probably Europe’s third-biggest omega-3 fortified brand (Vitality) has dropped omega-3 from its ingredient list (see page 3 of this issue of New Nutrition Business).

• Unilever, owner of the largest omega-3 fortified brand, has dropped omega-3 from the formulation of its plant sterol-based cholesterol-lowering Pro.activ dairy drinks in most countries in Europe and it has withdrawn some omega-3 products completely (although omega-3 is doing well in the company’s spreads).

• In the US even the mighty Tropicana

has seen its omega-3 fortified juice linger in a very small niche (see Case Study on page 13 of this issue of New Nutrition Business).

• In Australia, possibly the only country in the world with a mass-market omega-3 brand (Tip Top Up bread) and one of the highest levels of consumer awareness in the world of omega-3s, there is still only one brand that is a success – and every other new omega-3 launch that has been made has either been withdrawn or sits at an ultra-niche level of sales. The only other significant example in this country is the Parmalat Vaalia probiotic yoghurt brand, which was already very successful and which recently attempted to extend the brand with an omega-3 variant.

By omega-3 we of course mean DHA/EPA from marine oils or algae, such as that marketed by Martek, not vegetable-source omega-3, which is still far from being able to demonstrate the same level of science in support of its benefits that has already been established for marine omega-3s.

By contrast with the stumbles of foods and beverages, sales of omega-3 supplements are soaring. In the US, for example, sales of omega-3 supplements have been on a meteoric rise since 1997, when their retail sales were just $50 million (€31 million),

according to data from Nutrition Business Journal. By 2008 retail sales had leaped to $627 million (€400 million) – a 29% increase over 2007. It’s fairly safe to say that omega-3 supplement sales in America will soon pass the billion dollar mark. In Europe, too, supplement sales are on a steady upward curve, with some valuing the European market even higher than the US.

In infant formula and foods for young children, omega-3 has almost become a category standard – an ingredient that every infant formula must include, not because it increases sales, but just to offer the same benefits as every competing product. In Asia, certainly, omega-3 is a standard in infant foods that long ago ceased to be a point of difference. Meanwhile omega-3 fortified adult products, such as Nestlé’s omega-3 Nesvita, languish at niche market shares.

Sales of omega-3 into pharmaceutical/medical applications are also booming. According to one well-informed industry source, prescription sales of medical grade

Puleva omega-3 milk, marketed with a heart health benefit, has retail sales in Spain of over €110 million ($170 million). It is the world’s biggest omega-3 fortified brand but it is still a niche proposition with a 2% market share.

Danone relaunched its under-performing plant sterol-based Danacol cholesterol-reducing dairy drink in the UK in 2006 with added omega-3, two years after first bringing it to market, in a bid to give it broader appeal. But the reformulation didn’t stop sales from sliding and Danacol eventually met its demise in 2007.

AUGUST 2008 11


E D I T O R I A L

oils (of the kind supplied by leading omega-3 suppliers such as Norway-based Pronova) are already well over the $600 million mark.

But when we look hard at foods and beverages it’s quite another story. It is becoming clearer by the day that omega-3 foods and beverages are firmly a niche proposition – and likely to stay that way for some time.

There are some who argue that when Western countries have an RDA for omega-3 (to our knowledge, none does at present) the situation will change. Certainly if that ever happens – and it could be a decade away – there will be an effect. But don’t bank on it. Japan is the only country in the world with an RDA for omega-3 fatty acids – it is recommended that 2,600mg of DHA be consumed daily – a far cry from the 450-500mg (an unofficial measure based on a range of scientific recommendations) recommended in most Western regulations. But even so it’s had limited effect on the omega-3 market. Japanese people prefer to get their omega-3 from fish or from supplements (Japan’s omega-3 supplement market is worth over $150 million/€95 million) and Westerners are showing every sign of going the same way.

Ironically, the problem for industry may just be that although consumers – thanks to massive education efforts by the ingredient supply industry – know that they need omega-3, they may just prefer to get the benefits in a more natural form than a fortified food, or from dietary supplements.

Dorothy MacKenzie, director of consultancy Dragon Brands, believes the problem is more to do with the vehicle than the ingredient itself.

“My instinct would be to say that it’s not necessarily to do with consumer rejection of the benefits of omega 3, because it seems these are regarded as important and relevant. But there does seem to be this consumer preference for getting functional benefits from products which are as close to natural as possible, in this case salmon, for example.

“It may be the format that’s the issue and the degree to which it’s perceived to be distant from naturally occurring sources. There’s always been a concern about stuff that’s added to things where they don’t naturally occur. And people are falling back on naturally occurring sources of omega 3 or are looking at other things that deliver the Omega 3 benefits, and the growth of oats is one example of that.”

Jerry Luff, a director of Nu-Mega, a

leading Australian supplier of Omega 3 DHA from tuna oil, said there was a certain amount of squeamishness among consumers about the combination of dairy and a fish-derived ingredient – something suppliers and brand marketers needed to address.

“There is no doubt consumers view omega-3 as being healthy. But there is always some degree of that cognitive dissonance that occurs when you have a material that is evidently from a different source, and usually a fish source, in a product not usually associated with that source.

“There is still quite a deal of consumer education to be undertaken by the industry. There is a definite need for consumers to be aware that what we’re talking about is not fish per se in a product but the essential fatty acid. We’ve done some research and one of the things that does confuse consumers is the difference between the nutrient fatty acid and the fish.”

This was an issue the industry would need to grapple with, said Luff, because for the “near to medium term” future, fish were likely to remain the pre-eminent cost-effective source of long chain fatty acid ingredients.

The fish industry worldwide has risen to the omega-3 marketing opportunity with admirable energy for an industry that is better-known for its commodity mindset and every canned fish that can tells consumers

on the label that it’s a source of omega-3. Fish processors have also done a good job of presenting fish in more interesting and convenient ways – pre-packed in Mediterranean or Asian sauces, for example.

The all-natural health halo of fish is driving up sales in many countries. To take one example, Nielsen supermarket scanning data in the UK found that sales of oily fish to consumers with children aged under 10 have all shown a significant increase in the 12 months to 19 April 2008:

• Value sales of salmon to this group rose 24%

• Sardine sales were up 30% • Mackerel sales are up 20%

BETTER FORMAT THAN DAIRY?

The argument that dairy products are somehow “the wrong format” for omega-3 is gaining ground in some quarters. But it’s worth remembering that omega-3 juice has also been tried – and has also failed to make any headway, as Tropicana has found (see page 13). Interestingly, this is the same argument that was advanced ten years ago when the first plant sterol-based cholesterol-lowering products also failed to make the headway that was expected of them. Sterols, too, were tried in dairy,

THE DEMISE OF UNILEVER’S OMEGA-3 DRINK

Unilever launched an omega-3 fortified daily dose dairy drink in mid-2006 under the promise, “The drink with the most omega-3!”. A Unilever spokesperson said at the time: “Omega-3 is a mega-trend.” In the UK alone Unilever invested £6 million ($12 million/€7.6 million) in promoting the range with TV and press advertising and PR. In February 2008 the line was withdrawn.

AUGUST 200812


E D I T O R I A L

juice and other formats, such as bars – and still remain trapped in a niche. Omega-3 is taking the same route, and companies who try their hand at omega-3 bars, breakfast cereals or the like run the risk of repeating a past mistake. Like “plant sterols”, “omega-3s” sound to most people not like food, but like something out of a chemistry set – and that means something they don’t want to eat. And you don’t want to add to your brand an ingredient that most people don’t want to eat. Talk to people about “the natural health benefits of fish”, on the other hand, and they respond differently – and will favour fish.

A NICHE FUTURE

What was becoming apparent in 2007 is now very clear in 2008 – there’s only going to be room in each country for a handful of omega-3 brands. There will be space for a couple of dairy brands, a bread, a juice – and that’s how the market has already played out in Spain and Australia, long the lead markets in omega-3. Beyond a small number of leading brands in each country all others will be niche, kept on as marginal brands and representing only a tiny percentage of their owner’s sales and maintained as part of a range largely because competitors are also

UNILEVER DAIRY DRINKS DROP OMEGA-3

In many countries Unilever fortified the daily dose dairy drink variant of its cholesterol-lowering, sterol-based Pro.activ range with omega-3. But omega-3 has now disappeared from the formulation in most countries. Omega-3 added cost without adding consumer benefits or creating a stronger reason to buy. The company continues to include omega-3 in all of its spreads, where the consumer appeal seems to be stronger. These cholesterol-lowering spreads together make Unilever’s the biggest omega-3 brand in Europe and perhaps the biggest in the world.

OMEGA-3: NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T!

The most recent example of an omega-3 failure: Müller UK added omega-3 to its underperforming Vitality probiotic brand in 2005. Sales grew rapidly in the wake of the move, which Müller attributed to the presence of omega-3 (although industry sources have suggested to NNB that aggressive price promotions also played a part). Briefly, Vitality was Europe’s third-biggest omega-3 brand (after Puleva milk in Spain and Unilever’s Pro.activ). But in 2008 Müller has dropped omega-3, saying that: “We found in our new research that people simply weren’t interested in having omega-3 in a yoghurt product, particularly one that is aimed at adults.”

offering such products.INGREDIENT SHAKE-OUT TO COME?

For ingredient suppliers – of whom there are many – there’s a very bright future ahead for companies such as Pronova in Norway and Ocean Nutrition Canada (ONC), which already have a strong technological and market position in supplements or infant formula. For Martek, too, there’s a bright future because of its point-of-difference of being “vegetarian source” DHA (Martek’s oils come from algae not fish), which enables it to be a player in infant formula and in markets such as India, with large vegetarian populations.

But if you are a small omega-3 supplier, or a new entrant, or lack any existing leadership position in the market, the outlook is bleak. Supplying base commodity oils to companies with refining, processing, distribution and market strength – such as ONC and Pronova – will make good business sense for many companies. But those companies who are new to the market, or have no established reputation or business relationships, and who are trying to knock down the door of the food industry to supply oils for use in foods and beverages, are committing a form of commercial suicide. Outside the top-10

omega-3 suppliers, the outlook for the other 20 is uncertain.

In September 2006 we wrote in NNB that omega-3 was at something of a tipping point in terms of the number of product launches, adding that we had some doubts: “Omega-3 is still very far from being an ingredient that has mass-market status, it may never attain that status.”

Two years on, most of those launches have disappeared or have come to nothing and it is clear that – short of a technological and cost miracle that is not yet on the industry’s horizon – niche is where omega-3 foods and beverages will stay for a very, very long time.

Once the darling of the functional food sector, omega-3 enrichment is no longer the irresistible business proposition that, to some, it appeared to be.

Becel daily dose drinks in Germany no longer refer to Omega-3, nor does the website.

AUGUST 2008 13


B E V E R A G E C A S E S T U D Y

Omega-3 fortified products have hit North American markets in huge numbers over the last two years, but their introduction has thus far created almost no strong impact in any particular category. In orange juice, for example, omega-3 has established itself as only an ultra-niche proposition, despite the best efforts of marketers.

Omega-3 fortification has delivered a significant sales jump for Tropicana’s struggling Healthy Heart orange juice brand – but done nothing to lift it above its extreme niche status. Healthy Heart had a share of the US refrigerated orange juice market of just 0.6% before omega-3 was added to the product’s formulation – and in 2008, now clearly promoted for its omega-3 benefits, it is still stuck at just 0.6%.

PepsiCo-owned Tropicana introduced Healthy Heart with Omega-3s in early 2007 as the first national orange juice to include omega-3s; the pre-existing Healthy Heart product had been on the market since 2003.

The launch was a classic “functional foods makeover” – the use of a new ingredient to try to breathe fresh life into a struggling brand. Such makeovers – the experience of the last 15 years of functional foods has shown – almost never deliver good results, and Tropicana Healthy Heart is no exception.

Sales of Tropicana Healthy Heart – whose original cardiac-friendly formula was based solely on a dose of extra potassium and the absence of sodium – peaked in their first full year after introduction at $18.5 million (€11.66 million), according to IRI supermarket scanning data. But by the end of 2006 sales of the product had dropped to just $14.3 million (€9 million).

In early 2007 Tropicana rolled out the omega-3-enhanced version nationally, convinced that it had “used innovation to help consumers fill a void in their diet,” in the words at the time of Jim McGinnis, Tropicana vice president of marketing. Healthy Heart with Omega-3s was priced along with the rest of Tropicana’s

Omega-3 make-over keeps heart healthy juice brand in its niche

Thinking of launching an omega-3 fortified juice? Think again: if a company with Tropicana’s marketing muscle can’t make it work beyond a narrow niche, no-one can. Launching an omega-3 product and targeting it at heart health might be just about the worst strategy you could follow. By DALE BUSS and JULIAN MELLENTIN.

refrigerated-orange-juice line at a suggested $3.49 for a 64-ounce carton and slapped with a “Now with Omega-3s” caption on the front of the package.

“We expect sales of Healthy Heart with Omega-3 to increase [over previous levels of Healthy Heart sales] because it hits the boomer trifecta of delivering convenience, taste and meaningful nutrition,” Jim McGinnis told New Nutrition Business at the time.

And so it proved. Tropicana Healthy Heart sales shot up by nearly 20% in calendar 2007, to $17.2 million (€10.9 million) from $14.4 million (€9 million) during 2006. A sales increase of 20%, in a

category so mature and so crowded that it’s remarkable when there is any movement at all which isn’t dictated by pricing changes, is impressive.

But to put that into some kind of context, the total US refrigerated orange juice market, which Tropicana dominates with a 40% market share, is worth $2.78 billion in retail sales. Healthy Heart with Omega-3 is a very niche product – and it is showing every sign of staying that way. For the 52 weeks ended April 30 2008, Healthy Heart with Omega-3s’ sales were $17.6 million (€11.1 million) and sales in the first six months of 2008 suggest that the brand will do no better overall in 2008. That’s not the performance of a brand that’s going to grow to $100 million (€63 million) in sales in the next three to five years, it’s the performance of a brand that has found its niche and is showing every sign of staying there.

It’s what some beverage experts have been predicting all along, with remarkable accuracy: “ After a while this stuff is done so many times that it becomes like a callouse,” Tom Pirko, president of Bevmark LLC, a leading beverage industry consulting firm, told New Nutrition Business back in 2007. “It’s going to have very little impact compared with, say, the next price increase or decrease for orange juice.”

Tropicana’s rival, Minute Maid, has also experienced the niche nature of demand for anything that’s heart healthy.

The primary Minute Maid product competitive to Tropicana Healthy Heart orange juice in the U.S. is Heart Wise orange juice, which relies on plant sterols, supplied by ingredient giant Cargill, to deliver its promoted cardiac-healthy, cholesterol-lowering benefits. Heart Wise sales totaled more than $16 million (€10.1 million) for the 52 weeks ended April 20 2008, according to IRI, after its calendar-2007 sales were more than $13 million (€8.2 million). The increase in sales value followed a make-over of the brand’s packaging and a re-positioning as a premium-priced product, to reflect its niche

AUGUST 200814



CHART 1: TROPICANA HEALTHY HEART SALES 2004-2008

Originally launched as a product with a high dose of potassium and no sodium, Tropicana Healthy Heart peaked at $18.5 million in sales, putting it in the niche position most heart-health-specific brands have become trapped in. Relaunched in 2007 with added omega-3 the brand enjoyed an uplift. However the growth was limited and sales for the year-to-date suggest that Healthy Heart is again close to peaking at a niche sales level.

Retail sales US $

(millions)

0

$18.5m(€11.8m)

Tropicana Healthy Heart

2004

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20 $17.7m(€11.3m)


2005

$14.3m(€9.7m)


2006

$17.2m(€11m)


2007

$8.5m(€5.5m)


2008 calendar yr to June 15th

status, following several years of sales declines for the brand, which saw its sales peak at around $35 million (€22 million) back in 2003.

In late 2007 it introduced its first Enhanced Juice with omega-3s, taking a completely different approach to omega-3 fortification, apparently with more success (although no sales figures were available to NNB).

To begin with, Minute Maid avoided the mature and unsexy orange juice market and opted instead for a Pomegranate Blueberry blend. “It’s one of the fastest-growing flavour trends,” Robin Bell, brand manager for chilled orange juice for Minute Maid, told New Nutrition Business at the time of the launch. And rather than going in the direction of cardiac protection, however, it has strongly positioned the new variety on a brain health platform. The product carries the claim, “Helps nourish your brain” on the packaging and it includes 50mg of Martek Biosciences Corp.’s Life’sDHA omega-3s per 8-oz. serving. Other added ingredients include choline and Vitamin B12, which is said in marketing literature to “play a role in brain and nervous-system signals”; Vitamin E, which the company says “helps shield the omega-3s in the brain from free radicals”; and Vitamin C, which “is highly concentrated in brain nerve endings.”

“It’s the top-selling pomegranate SKU in the entire market,” including trailblazing products from Pom Wonderful and other manufacturers, claimed Alison Powell, an associate brand manager for Minute Maid.

In Canada, where omega-3 is a better-known concept to consumers, thanks to the marketing efforts of Ocean Nutrition Canada (ONC), which is also the world’s biggest

supplier of marine omega-3s, Minute Maid has taken yet a different approach.

The omega-3 product is one of four fortified products sold under the Fruit Solutions sub-brand. Launched in early 2007, Fruit Solutions includes four products, each a blend of juices, known individually as Omega, Anti-Ox, Immune Support and Healthy Start.

The omega-3 carrier is Omega, a blend of juices from oranges, mangos and passionfruit. The source of omega-3s – as in Tropicana Healthy Heart in the U.S. – is encapsulated fish oil supplied by Ocean Nutrition Canada.

The products retail in single-serve plastic bottles for a suggested C$1.99-C$2.19 ($1.99-$2.19/€1.25-€1.37) per bottle. Fruit Solutions also is available in refrigerated cartons. The pricing is comparable to Minute Maid’s premium not-from-concentrate line, Simply Orange and other Simply juices, at a bit of a premium to regular Minute Maid juices in Canada.

“Omega-3s are a local trend that has grown significantly,” said Maria Soler, marketing director for juices and juice drinks for Coca-Cola Ltd., in Toronto. She said, however, that each of the four Fruit

Solutions products sells in about equal volumes. Sales data was not available to New Nutrition Business as we went to press.

Overall, Soler said, Fruit Solutions sales “have exceeded our expectations in terms of volume and market share. All SKUs have exceeded our expectations.”

Minute Maid supported Fruit Solutions’ launch last year with a national TV-advertising campaign. While that has subsided, the company continues to promote the brand with national magazine and other print advertising, out-of-home advertising, and a “strong” sampling program.Adding omega-3s to Tropicana Healthy Heart boosted sales – but it remains a niche product

AUGUST 2008 15


W E I G H T M A N A G E M E N T C A S E S T U D Y

It’s been five years since Slim-Fast was exposed as an Achilles’ heel for Unilever’s ambitions in America. But sales of Slim-Fast products have never recovered. And by the admission of its own brand managers, Slim-Fast now is navigating a US weight-loss market that has lost all definition since the collapse of the Atkins Diet phenomenon a few years ago.

Unilever has a plan for attempting to revive Slim-Fast from its ongoing slide in sales to less than half the level of six years ago. The company is introducing new products, new functionalities, new marketing and a philosophy that is attempting to leverage what Unilever executives believe are the implications of the amorphous mess that the American dieting marketplace has become these days.

FROM DIETING TO DO-IT-YOURSELF HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

In essence, Slim-Fast has scaled back to its original shakes-and-bars focus and decided to cast itself as the inexpensively priced anchor of an overall dieting regimen based on sensible eating and exercise – rather than as the grand solution to every weight-loss need.

“We have products that can be used flexibly, but we also recommend structure,” said Virginia Blake West, Slim-Fast’s brand-development director, in an interview with New Nutrition Business. “That’s our opportunity and our sweet spot: to provide a flexible way of consuming diet products with an approach that can fit into a do-it-yourself type of lifestyle.”

West maintained that Slim-Fast really has no alternative but to take this tack, given how the weight-loss market has evolved lately. “It’s become an interesting period in dieting, because consumers aren’t really willing

Slim-Fast slide slowed by satiety

A protein and fibre-fortified product line that promises to “control hunger for up to 4 hours” has grown rapidly to account for over 80% of US sales of the Slim-Fast brand. But in a market in which diets are dying the new promise hasn’t been able to halt an overall 25% slump in sales. By DALE BUSS.

to follow very structured or regimented programs.

“Generally speaking, if you ask them, ‘How are you dieting today, and how is it different than three to four years ago?’, they’ll pretty much say, ‘I’m doing my own diet now.’ They’re cobbling together different philosophies and approaches from the wide range of what they see and are exposed to out there.”

For this evolution, West blamed the Atkins Diet craze of 2003 and 2004 for raising the expectations of dieters – and then dashing their hopes. “People found that while it worked in the short term, it was difficult to stick with over the long haul. So they’ve concluded that diets that are deprivational and require strict regimentation are difficult over the long haul, and people have rejected the hard structure.”

Slim-Fast has been struggling to keep up with the sea changes for five years now.

Unilever purchased the privately-owned company for $2.3 billion (€1.45 billion) in 2000, when the brand was clearly on the rise, growing at a rate of more than 20% a year. Sales in the year 2000 totaled $611 million (€386 million), just 6% of which was outside the US.

“Slim-Fast,” said Unilever chairman Niall Fitzgerald at the time, “will significantly increase our presence in functional foods.”

AMBITIONS PROVE EMPTY

But by 2002 sales had already slid to just $550 million (€347 million) in supermarkets, discounters and drug-store chains (not including Wal-Mart Stores) where scanning data is captured by Information Resources Inc..

When the Atkins Diet burst onto the scene in 2003 and 2004 Slim-Fast – and its carbohydrate-heavy shakes, powders and

AUGUST 200816



bars – was left in the lurch. The company said sales fell more than 20% in 2003 alone, coming in at about $410 million (€259 million) in the US, according to IRI.

Unilever’s response was to extend the brand to include a new line of pastas, soup and salads as it sought to expand the idea of what its brand represented – traditionally this had been bars and shakes alone. But sales only plunged further, to about $310 million (€196 million) in 2004. As is most commonly the case with brand extensions, salads and the like simply didn’t sit with the Slim-Fast brand image and IRI supermarket scanning data showed that their sales peaked at just $4 million (€2.5 million).

Slim-Fast’s next response – a natural one for beleaguered marketers – was the launch a new variant, called Slim-Fast Optima, a line of products which boasted 50% less sugar than the existing Slim-Fast products. It was a move that Slim-Fast called “the biggest nutritional shift in the brand’s 25 year history.”

Nevertheless, sales for 2005 continued their drop, to about $244 million (€154

million). In those days, Slim-Fast couldn’t even get the endorsement game right. More than three years ago, Slim-Fast – which had ridden to the top on the backs of celebrities such as Kathie Lee Gifford – made a big misstep when it hired Whoopi Goldberg to become the face of the brand. Goldberg caused a big stir by making remarks that mocked President Bush in a way that was unacceptable to many Slim-Fast customers and led Slim-Fast to sever the relationship.

SATIETY STOPS THE SALES SLIDE

However, while total brand sales have declined, sales of the Optima line have risen and it performed sufficiently strongly in 2006 to bring the brand’s decline to a temporary halt (see Chart on Page 17) and today it accounts for over 80% of Slim-Fast sales.

In 2006 Optima began to offer the new benefit of satiety control, with the tagline, “controls hunger up to 4 hours.” Each shake was reformulated to offer 5g of fiber and 10g of protein per 325 ml serve (as well as providing only 190 calories).

“The No. 1 barrier to consumers’ ability to succeed in dieting is that they tell us, ‘I feel hungry all the time’,” West said. The revised formula added “up to four hours of hunger control,” she explained, with a patented new means of combining protein and fat molecules and delivering them more effectively to the lower intestine, triggering a greater satiety response to the brain.

Slim-Fast continues to look at new ways of increasing hunger control as well, including a technology that involves trapping gas in its shakes to make people feel full. “We’re still working on delivering that [technology] commercially in products that we know consumers will like,” West said.

The brand also recently launched a line of bite-sized “protein chews” and is developing more new products that West won’t describe. The protein chews are aimed at tapping into the growing consumer craze for products that are packaged in 100-calorie servings.

“It helps people monitor their intake,” West said, “although I hear from consumers that they don’t stop with just one pack but maybe have three. So while I’m not sure how effective this is in helping with weight loss, at least it’s helping them keep track” of calories.

But in a market in which consumers have struggled to have any lasting success with

diets such as the Atkins Diet, and despite consumers’ mistrust

of diet brands in general, the number of diet brands has only continued to proliferate – even while pre-existing brands also continually try to redefine themselves, as Slim-Fast has done.

So in addition to mainstays such as Slim-Fast, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, relatively new players in the overall dieting marketplace include Special K and Nutri-System. “There are lots of choices and noise now, and people can get very confused,” West said. “It can cause them to give up.” Another factor changing the mix is the success of Alli, an over-the-counter weight-loss pill which has enjoyed success in America.

AUGUST 2008 17



CHART 1: SLIM-FAST SALES 2004–2007

Strong sales of Optima satiety products have helped halt the slump in Slim-Fast’s sales.

Retail sales US $

(millions)

0

2004

$310m(€198m)

TotalSlim-Fast

OptimaOnly

$30m(€19m)

2005

$244m(€156m)

$192.1m(€123m)

2006

$244m(€156m) $210m

(€134m)

2007

$224m(€143m)

$184.7m(€118m)

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

TotalSlim-Fast

OptimaOnly

TotalSlim-Fast

OptimaOnly

TotalSlim-Fast

OptimaOnly

THE END OF BRAND EXTENSIONS

Nowadays, Slim-Fast has been attempting to slice through the confusion with a strategy for gradually re-establishing its once-dominant position in the marketplace – or at least becoming something close to the significant force it once was.

This approach begins with what West called a “laser focus on what we do well.” That has meant relying once again almost totally on Slim-Fast’s traditional product forms: shakes, powders and bars. Salads and side dishes, for example, have dropped completely off the Slim-Fast menu after they peaked out at a $4 million (€2.5 million) business, according to IRI, in 2004. Similarly, frozen novelties are gone; they had been a $20 million (€12.6 million) business in 2003.

In doing so, the Slim-Fast team actually had to resist some continued internal pressures to move the other way. “As we say that people were starting to diet more on their own terms and using more real food choices to manage their weight,” West remembered, “some on the brand team felt we should participate.”

But instead, Slim-Fast has returned to its roots. “What we can do really well,” West said, “is provide great-quality shakes, bars and perhaps some other new snack formats.” Slim-Fast now is simply advising consumers to fit its products as frequent “meal replacement” into an overall diet that also includes plenty of vegetables, fruit consumption between meals, and plenty of water. “It’s sensible meals without a lot of the calculation,” Groziak explained.

The brand also has been struggling to find its footing in terms of marketing as well. Last year, reflecting its broader approach to dieting alternatives and approaches that complement its products, the company adopted a marketing slogan, Find Your Slim, which put forth the notion that there’s no ideal weight or size and that dieters should set their own goals. Early this year in Hollywood, the brand even hosted a fashion show that celebrated “body diversity.”

FOCUS ON VALUE

Slim-Fast brand stewards also are considering a straightforward appeal to Americans’ increasing economic hard times. West is more than willing to contrast the requirements of compliance with Slim-Fast’s approach, which requires expenditure of only a few dollars a day on its products, with expensive diet

regimens such as Nutri-System which may require the commitment of $300 (€190) a month.

“We haven’t focused on a value message so far,” West said, “but that is something we will dial up in our communications over the next six months.” Slim-Fast is augmenting this thinking by commencing distribution of its products in more value-based outlets, including the Dollar General chain of discount stores. And earlier this year, it experimented with sampling programs at Wal-Mart and Kmart stores.

“Some folks might need the trigger or motivation of someone who says, ‘Come and check us out in the store, and here’s a sample,’” West explained. “For them, the more you can help them do to get started, the better.”

Slim-Fast also launched its first “rewards program” under which users can earn points redeemable for an American Express gift card. Also, it initiated a complementary Style Your Slim marketing effort this year.

Commencing last winter, it included a prize trip to Los Angeles and a “challenge” under which dieters registered online and pledged to lose up to 24 pounds through June. The brand helped out with personalized meal plans, access to registered dietitians, fashion tips and a free starter kit that included a pedometer and coupons for Unilever brands.

“We’re continuing to drive people to our web site through search and online marketing,

because the No. 1 source of information for people trying to lose weight is the internet,” West said. “So we’re putting more emphasis on the digital channel in general in marketing and advertising.”

SUPERMODEL PRESCENCE

Slim-Fast hasn’t had a high-profile celebrity spokesperson since the Goldberg debacle. In a move that surprised many competitors and dieters, last year Slim-Fast approached Rachel Hunter – the supermodel best known as the former wife of rocker Rod Stewart – to represent the brand. The reason: Hunter was a user and embodied Slim-Fast’s new Find Your Slim marketing slogan.

Slim-Fast couldn’t take full advantage of having a supermodel as its representative without TV advertising, so expect more of that to emerge as well as online activities and promotions featuring Hunter.

“We’re being more selective with TV now,” West said, echoing the caution that more and more brand marketers have toward television advertising. “We’re using seasonal periods and day-part selections to reach our targets more effectively and balancing that with our online presence – more than just a mass presence.”

AUGUST 200818



From ‘diet’ to ‘lightly functional’: weight management in Germany

In Germany satiety is taking off. Kellogg’s decision to drop any reference to “dieting” in the marketing of the very successful Special K weight management brand is just the latest step in a process that began in 2007 with the launch of Campina Optiwell Control. A daily dose dairy drink with a satiety benefit, it rapidly became the most successful new product launch of 2007. In Germany, dieting is disappearing and “lightly functional” is on the rise. Where Germany goes, much of Europe follows. By KATI LESKINEN.

Labelled “diet” and targeted primarily at diabetics, the first reduced-calorie products in Germany appeared in the 1970s. The mainstreaming of diet products happened a decade later, when Coca-Cola Germany launched the nation’s first diet drink.

In the 1990s the sales of diet products slumped and the downturn was attributed to more consumers turning to organic products. But since concerns over the increase in obesity levels started making headlines around the turn of the century, sales of diet products have experienced a resurgence.

According to a survey published by Mediadgecia, only 15% of Germans are interested in diet products and just 4% believe they are good value for money. The reason most “low and light” products fail to attract German consumers is their weak taste profile – only 12% of those surveyed found diet

products tasted any good.In terms of taste appeal, it’s the dairy

category that enjoys the highest consumer acceptance. Roughly half of Germans say low-fat and artificially sweetened yoghurts taste as good as conventional ones, and a similar situation exists with drinkable yoghurts and dairy-based desserts.

Having won consumers’ taste approval, dairy companies are launching more and more of what in Germany are referred to as “lightly functional products”.

The “lightly functional” category was pioneered by Danone when it introduced a fat-free, sugar-reduced version of its probiotic daily dose yoghurt drink, Actimel, in 2002. Yakult launched an equivalent later that same year.

In April 2007 leading German dairy Müller refined this category by introducing a “lightly functional and indulgent” dairy product, a low-fat extension to its popular “Corner Yoghurt” range. It is enriched with CultiWell probiotics and soluble fibres, is labelled no fat – less sugar – more probiotics and is positioned as a “light wellness pleasure”.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

The dairy category has taken the lead in foods designed to make you feel fuller – and the lead in dairy has been taken by Dutch farmer-owned dairy Campina, which launched Germany’s first satiety yoghurt drink, branded Campina Optiwell Control, in February 2007, simultaneously with a launch in the Netherlands, where it is branded Optimel Control.

In the Netherlands Optimel Control was one of the most successful new products of 2007, achieving retail sales of €8.8 million ($13.7 million), according to IRI data (see New Nutrition Business June 2008 for a detailed Case Study on this brand).

In the larger German market Optiwell Control was the best-selling new food and beverage product in any category in 2007,

achieving retail sales of over €25 million ($40 million). Although the German consumer market is four times the size of the Netherlands, Campina does not have the brand history or distribution muscle it has in the Netherlands (where it is the biggest food brand), making the German market achievement all the more impressive.

Müller In Balance – ON PACK MESSAGES

From the German:

What is “light” is also healthy: Müller’s delicious fruit yoghurt is fat-free with less sugar, making it an ideally balanced treat for you to enjoy between meals without guilt.

This fat-free yoghurt contains CultiWell, a carefully selected and optimally adjusted probiotic wellness-culture with a scientifi cally proven effect. To top it off, the yoghurt is enriched with soluble fi bre called inulin. This yoghurt guarantees you an extra creamy wellness-pleasure and – if consumed regularly – it will benefi t your health.

Campina Optiwell Control – ON-PACK MESSAGES:

From the German:

Does this sound familiar? Despite the resolutions you make every morning, it is diffi cult to avoid snacking during the day – and in the evening you blame yourself for all those unnecessary calories. That is why we have developed Optiwell Control.

Optiwell Control helps you to eat less. We recommend consuming one bottle a day for at least three weeks, for example at breakfast.

Optiwell Control

– helps you maintain your ideal weight– helps you to eat less– positively infl uences your eating habits– lets you keep eating what you enjoy

Its natural ingredients

– are digested slowly– make you feel fuller quicker at your next meal– help you to eat less

AUGUST 2008 19



Campina supported Optiwell Control with a heavy marketing spend positioning the product as a natural way to suppress hunger. Rather than concentrating on the science behind the ingredients, the campaign communicated a simplified message of what weight loss brings about: the enhancing of self-esteem brought about by others’ compliments.

The TV ad for Optiwell Control featured a woman in a summer dress, posing in front of a friend. She beams with satisfaction as her friend sighs with a hint of jealousy in her voice: “With that figure you can wear anything!”. The ad ends with the tagline: “The best compliments begin with Optiwell Control”.

Campina also employed a consumer challenge for a three-week period with a full money-back guarantee to increase trialling of the product. In Germany, Optiwell Control retails packs of 4x100ml bottles for €2.49 ($3.36).

The success of Optiwell Control (a brand which will be profiled in more depth in a future issue of New Nutrition Business) is clearly having a major effect on new product development and market strategy in the German weight management market, and it is clearly having an influence on brands such as Kellogg Special K. What is also clear, is that the daily dose delivery format has a lot more potential than the more complicated calculations attendant upon low-carb and low glycemic index regimes.

FIBRE & FULLNESS

Fibre, say the experts, is the ideal satiety booster, contributing to feelings of fullness

while not adding too many calories. According to the German Society of Nutrition, on average Germans consume only 75% of their 30g recommended daily intake (RDI) of fibre. Cereal marketers are now competing to supply the missing 25% by leveraging fibre as an active weight management tool.

Kellogg was the first company to lay claim to fibre-based weight management in Germany, via its Special K brand. The company has built consumer loyalty with an on-pack diet regime, but in 2007 rival Nestlé entered the fray and introduced a more advanced on-pack slimming promotion. Nestlé Fitness cereal invites consumers to download a virtual personal trainer by sending a SMS, or text message, costing €0.49 ($0.66) to a number found inside the box. Via mobile phone or PC, the programme gives exercise tips and works out sample menus. Nestlé’s promotional tools – including a fitness coach, meal planner and more – are some of the most sophisticated of any weight management brand and arguably go further than even the techniques pioneered by Kellogg with Special K.

Kellogg’s response (see page 5 of this issue of NNB) has been to move away from dieting towards a healthy eating position and introduce a fibre-and-protein loaded satiety version of Special K.

Hipp, the German manufacturer of organic baby food, has become the latest company to look for growth in the adult whole-grain adult category with the launch of fibre-rich muesli with a satiety-boosting message.

Snack brands have also been quick to re-position their products in line with the satiety concept. Corny, the leading line of cereal bars (manufactured by Schwartauer Werke, a subsidiary of Hero Foods), recently added an “Activ” variant which combines dark chocolate and whole grains and claims to provide 15% of the RDI for fibre.

DRINK YOURSELF THIN

Water has received much media attention in Germany lately for its alleged positive effect on the metabolism. A recent German study claims that the daily consumption of 1.5 to 2 litres of water can have a significant calorie-burning effect.

The German bottled water industry is seizing upon this media attention and the findings of scientific

studies and is introducing bolder weight management claims. Nestlé Germany is now describing its Contrex mineral water as a “slimming partner” and Gerolsteiner has taken things one step further with its Linée satiety water. The company claims that the slow-release carbohydrates added to Linée help stabilise energy levels and minimise hunger pangs between meals. Unlike traditional diet drinks, Linée is not calorie-free and is instead positioned as a source of “optimal energy”.

The emergence of Linée and the other products surveyed here shows how the German weight management market is in the forefront of the move towards products that actively support weight management programmes, rather than just eliminating calories and sacrificing taste. Weight management is, in effect, becoming an everyday part of healthy eating.

Gerolsteiner Linée – LABEL TEXT

From the German:

Stress and a lack of time for proper meals means we often reach for snacks which are high in calories.

Gerolsteiner Linée offers you a vitalising solution. It provides the body with a small amount of energy over a long period. High peaks and lows in the blood sugar level will thus be avoided and your energy levels remain stable between meals. And this with only a few calories!

Nestlé Fitness – ON-PACK MESSAGES

From the German:

Enjoy whole grains every day for a better fi gure.

Studies have shown that whole grains are healthy

in many ways: unlike processed cereals, whole grains contain many essential ingredients vital for health. They can also assist in weight management, together with a balanced diet. People who eat plenty of whole grains regularly tend to have a lower body weight.

Optiwell has invested heavily in explaining how satiety works – and German consumers have responded, making the brand the most successful new product of 2007.

AUGUST 200820



Over the last decade Glaceau Vitaminwater has created a new segment of the American bottled water market that hadn’t existed before – enhanced waters. It has risen from start-up to be the number one brand in fortified water in the US market. Competitors both large and small have been racing to imitate its success – and with the exception of PepsiCo’s Propel enhanced water, almost all without success. In fact, Coca-Cola simply gave up on the effort and instead bought the Glaceau Vitaminwater brand in 2007 for $4.1 billion (€2.6 billion).

Coke’s acquisition of Vitaminwater opened up an opportunity for entrepreneur Don McDonald and his colleagues at Skinny Water.

“There were many distributors around the country who had been distributing Vitaminwater but then lost it because Coke was taking over – they were doing a lot of Vitaminwater but then they had nothing,” McDonald explained. “They were looking for something to fill that vacuum.”

An earlier manifestation of Skinny Nutritional had fielded Skinny-brand beverages and even had become a publicly held company before folding up about four years ago. So McDonald and his partners took over the old corporate shell and decided to try to revive the brand, whose very name creates an obvious and intriguing statement about the products’ attributes.

“We’ve developed products that are like

Skinny promises zeroWith a core message of active weight-loss, the Skinny Water brand is trying to create a new point of difference in an enhanced-water market which has hitherto been governed more by lifestyle products than by those which offer more tangible benefits. By DALE BUSS.

Vitaminwater but without the calories,” explained Don McDonald, president and chief executive officer of Skinny Nutritional Corp., in an interview with New Nutrition Business. “It has flavor, vitamins and antioxidants – but zero calories.” Skinny Water also is boosted by various weight-loss and appetite-control additives and is sweetened with sucralose.

And on that basis, McDonald said, the Pennsylvania-based company believes not only that it can take a significant share of the crowded but growing enhanced-water market, but also expand into other Skinny-branded products including teas and smoothies.

McDonald said he was highly aware of the need for establishing differentiation when the former cable-television advertising executive, and current venture capitalist, jumped at the Skinny opportunity.

In mid-2007 the new Skinny Nutritional launched its first Skinny Water products nationwide through retail multiple Target Stores, the 2nd biggest general merchandiser in the US. Available in Raspberry, Peach and Lemon flavors, Skinny Water boasted three key ingredients (besides sucralose): fruit extract Super CitriMax, ChromeMate, and EGCG. One flavour, Crave Control, contains 732mg per serve of Garcinia cambogia and EGCG.

Super CitriMax, the company explains, “is clinically proven to

suppress appetite and improve weight loss by 350 percent”; Skinny Water includes calcium which, the company said, “promotes fat burning and bone density,” and potassium, which “maintains cellular hydration.”

ChromeMate “promotes normal energy metabolism and helps maintain healthy blood-sugar levels,” Skinny Nutrition said. And EGCG, a green-tea extract, “helps keep metabolism high.”

But right away, McDonald and his partners noticed flaws in the new Skinny Water line they fielded and in its proposition. They decided that the flavors were too ordinary, so they set to work developing new ones and coming up with new names for them. Also, their first attempt at resuscitating Skinny Water couldn’t absolutely claim zero calories because it contained certain preservatives.

“So we changed our product from a cold-fill [packaging process] to a hot-fill process, which allowed us to remove the preservatives and get the calorie count down to zero,” McDonald said.

In the summer of 2008 Skinny is rolling out the reformulated line, beginning with Target Stores, with which it maintains a strong partnership. The new line consists of

AUGUST 2008 21



five products, each of which pairs a specific alleged function with a particular flavour combination:

• Hi-Energy is Acai-Grape-Blueberry flavored. In addition to the three marquee ingredients in every version of Skinny Water, Hi-Energy includes guarana, ginseng and L-Carnitine as well as B Vitamin. Skinny promotes acai as “the high-energy berry grown in the Amazon.”

• Crave Control is Raspberry-Pomegranate flavor and includes extra calcium and potassium. It’s said to “curb your inner snack cravings” and boasts of the polyphenol antioxidants in pomegranates.

• Total-V is Passionfruit-Lemonade flavor and is positioned as the brand’s vitamin-suffused product, including B Vitamins as well as Vitamins C, E and A, folic acid, magnesium and calcium.

• Shape is Goji Fruit Punch flavor and capitalizes on the heritage of goji berries, which the company says “were used by the Chinese for 6,000 years to promote longevity and stamina”. Shape also contains d-ribose “for sustained energy,” L-Leucine, L-Valine, calcium and potassium.

• XXX-Detox, in Peach-Mango-Mandarin flavor, calls each of Skinny Water’s three main ingredients an “X” in the name of this product, which is aimed at boosting metabolism. It also contains antioxidants lutein and hesperidine.

The suggested retail price of the new Skinny products is $1.49 to $1.99 (€0.94 - €1.26) per 17 oz (500ml) bottle, in line with other functional waters. McDonald claimed

that the reformulated line is “getting great reception. Orders and reorders from retailers have been very impressive.”

The continued cooperation of Target certainly helps the cause. The Minneapolis-based discount chain offers American consumers huge price appeal, like Wal-Mart, but occupies a marketplace position that is more upscale than Wal-Mart. In short, its customer base tends exactly to be the practically minded, young women shoppers, with some financial resources, that Skinny Water wants to reach.

The company is expanding distribution in other ways as well. They include convenience-store chains in the Greater Philadelphia market, surrounding the company’s suburban headquarters, as well as three of the largest beer and beverage distributors in Minnesota, Target’s home state.

Too small to launch an advertising campaign in traditional media even on a regional basis at this point, Skinny Nutritional is relying on three pillars for its initial marketing push: taste testing, emphasizing “zero calories,” and launching special events and other promotions.

“Consumers love the taste,” McDonald maintained. “So our philosophy is just to get it into their hands.” As a result, Skinny is emphasizing distribution of free samples, including an Independence Day weekend blitz on the New Jersey shore of the Atlantic Ocean.

McDonald also is playing up Skinny Water’s “zero-calorie” proposition with stunts such as sponsoring female distance runners in marathons and other races in jerseys with zeroes on their backs. “Zero, zero, zero is our mantra,” he said.

Also, in August, Skinny was planning to “take over” the St. Paul Saints professional baseball team, renaming them the “Skinny

Saints” for a week. All the pitchers on the team were going to wear “0” as their number for the duration.

Neither did McDonald hesitate in using a Skinny Water promotion to tap into growing American anxieties about spiraling gasoline prices. Over the summer, Skinny Nutritional is hosting “gas-station takeovers” in the Philadelphia and Minneapolis areas.

During its one-hour “gas giveaways” at cooperating convenience and gasoline stores, Skinny reduced the gas prices on all signs to “0.00” and purchased tank fill-ups for every driver who could make it through the line during that hour. The promotion was rounded out with Skinny Water signage, big inflated “bottles” of Skinny Water, and skinny females handing out free bottles of the beverages to motorists while they were waiting in line.

And if a motorist was so unfortunate as to invest time waiting in line when the one hour expired and the promotion was discontinued, McDonald explained, Skinny made sure to create a friend rather than an enemy – and handed out $10 gasoline certificates, for that gas station, to the unlucky drivers.

Skinny Nutritional’s next major step is to expand distribution up and down the East Coast and then line up a bottler, and distribution, in California. And even before Skinny Water is fully out of the gate, McDonald has vowed to introduce other Skinny-brand beverages, including – this fall – Skinny Teas.

Isn’t it difficult to produce a tea that is zero calories? McDonald was asked. “It’s possible because we’re doing it,” he said. But he conceded that, when Skinny Nutritional later introduces planned smoothies and “javas,” it won’t be possible for them to be zero-calorie because they will be dairy-based.

“But,” McDonald promised, “we can still go ‘skinny.’”

Skinny Water’s gas-giveaways enticed motorists with free fuel and Skinny samples.

AUGUST 200822



The health benefits of drinking red wine are known the world over and form one of the foundations of “the French Paradox”, which helps explain the relative health of the French despite all their rich food. But in many parts of the world vast numbers of consumers refuse to consider red wine a nutritional beverage because of the alcohol involved.

So it wasn’t too surprising to see a group of entrepreneurs search for a product that would deliver the heart-health benefits of red wine while overcoming the alcohol objection. They launched Embodi – the company and the product line – in Chicago over a year ago, and now the new juice-drink brand is hitting the market in the United States.

The key to Embodi is the presence of resveratrol, which scientists long ago isolated as the polyphenolic compound that provides most of the health benefits of red wine. Embodi uses a grape pomace extract made from the skins, seeds and stems of red-wine grapes, a blend that incorporates over 400 polyphenols, including resveratrol.

A 240ml bottle of Embodi is said to provide the same benefits as two glasses of red wine. The resveratrol levels in red wine vary widely, depending on the type of grape, but the average concentration in red wines is 1.9 ± 1.7 mg trans-resveratrol per litre.

Embodi is also described as having twice the antioxidant power per calorie – as measured on the popular Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) scale – as grape, cranberry and pomegranate juice (see chart).

The vehicle for delivering the benefits is a line of organic juice blends – made with 97% organic ingredients - that now is showing up in refrigerator cases of specialist healthy foods retailer Whole Foods Markets, next to brands including Naked Juice, Pom Wonderful, Bossa Nova and Sambazon.

“Outside of Gatorade, red wine is the most-researched beverage in the world in terms of its health benefits,” Dan Waters,

Juice drink delivers red wine benefits without the alcohol

Juice makers are racing to see who can offer the product with the highest level of antioxidants. US start-up Embodi is looking to snatch the crown from pomegranate and blueberry by leveraging the heart-health benefits of grape extract resveratrol. And it’s aiming to take the health appeal of red wine to a new group of consumers with an alcohol-free message. DALE BUSS reports.

Embodi’s CEO, told New Nutrition Business. “Nobody else can claim to deliver those without the alcohol besides us.”

He believes that the new company is “on to something very powerful from a consumer standpoint. If you look at functional beverages, or just juices or exotic superfruit juices, the conversation with consumers tends to go, ‘What is this? How do you pronounce it? Where is it from?’ – and you’re four or five questions in before you can explain why it’s good for you. But 80% of consumers understand the health benefits of red wine.”

One early sign that Waters’ group is onto something promising with Embodi although the company asked Whole Foods Markets only for a regional rollout of the product line, the Austin, Texas-based better-for-you retail giant took the unusual step of insisting from the start on a national rollout in its stores. That put Embodi in Whole Foods outlets across the US as of July 1st.

Waters had been the head of the healthy-baking business of Barilla Pasta, whose North

American headquarters are in Chicago. Before that, he was piling up marketing and product-development expertise with a variety of household brands including Clorox and The Gap.

When he and other investors with the start-up itch began batting around ideas for a better-for-you consumer company a couple of years ago, their brainstorming led to the proposition that became Embodi. They all knew about the clear health benefits of red wine, purported to range from cardiovascular health to cancer prevention, from increased longevity to diabetes.

Then Waters’ group looked at the vast target markets for the health benefits of red wine that the beverage itself doesn’t serve, for various reasons. That includes the roughly 35% of the American adult population who don’t drink any alcohol. Another group drinks alcohol but doesn’t like red wine.

Even among red-wine drinkers, Waters said, the purchase occasions tend to be limited – they leave out breakfast, for

AUGUST 2008 23



example. And many red-wine drinkers consume less than they might want to, even if they’re interested in the health benefits, because they sensibly heed warnings about overconsumption of alcohol. “Many doctors,” Waters conceded, “will say that the health benefits of red wine aren’t enough of a reason to start drinking alcohol because of the negative effects.”

So Embodi’s founders developed a process that would extract resveratrol, antioxidants, and other beneficial compounds from every part of the grape but the grape itself. That way, Waters noted, they could ensure that the end beverages would deliver all of the health benefits of red wine, not just those from resveratrol.

Waters wanted to fold the extract in with other juices that would give Embodi a potent brew of antioxidants and also some familiarity to American consumers who have been consuming vastly increasing amounts of pomegranate and other juices in pursuit of antioxidants.

What they came up with was three flavors of Embodi. Citrus Resurgence is citrus-juice-based. Tropical Revival features goji berry and pomegranate juices. And Berry Renewal is based on blueberry and pomegranate juices. Also in the products’ bases are organic juices including white grape, red grape, apple and pear.

CAREFUL POSITIONING IN FLAVOUR AND MERCHANDISING

In many different areas, Embodi has ended up trying to play both ends against the middle – taking advantage of some of the mystique and appeal of the product’s relationship to red wine, but in other ways positioning itself thoroughly against that. Product formulation is one arena where this is the case.

One of Embodi’s biggest formulation challenges was masking the tannic flavor that remained part of the pomace extract and which, in red wine, gives the beverage its dry-mouth feel. “Working through the right blends to overcome that was difficult, as well as getting the right amount of juice content,” Waters said.

Yet at the same time, he and Embodi’s other partners wanted to retain just a bit of a tannic note. “We didn’t want to completely eliminate that sort of flavour because that bit of a dry-mouth taste to it is a ‘reason to believe”, a cue to the drinks’ efficacy,” Waters said. “Of course if you have too much of it,

the drink becomes unpalatable.”The fact that Embodi is trying to create a

new beverage segment also led Waters and his colleagues to play around a bit with other conventions that already have developed in the functional-beverage market.

For example, Embodi is merchandised in fridges but has a 12-month shelf life, unlike nearly all of the beverages nearby. “It tastes best cold,” Waters said, but its shelf stability “gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of approaching new retailers with different [merchandising] possibilities”.

Packaging is another example of this strategy. Most drinks in the produce chill case are in large, clear plastic or glass bottles. But consumer research told Embodi that many shoppers find 16 ounces too big a serving. So the company opted for eight-ounce (240 ml) cans.

Not only that, but Embodi’s packaging is aluminum. Waters said that is to protect breakdown of antioxidants by light. Because it is more easily recyclable than clear packaging, according to Waters, it enables Embodi to position itself more easily as a “green” producer. But at the same time, using aluminum cans also allows Embodi to borrow just a bit from the popularity and allure of energy drinks, whose cans look similar.

So Waters can insist that “we’re really not” an energy drink, and Embodi is “trying to stay away from that kind of identification”. And, indeed, in Whole Foods at least, Embodi isn’t merchandised anywhere near energy drinks. Yet because its packaging is reminiscent of energy drinks and very different from the Sambazons and other offerings in the produce case, Embodi stands out where it sits.

“We look quite a bit different from the category,” he said. “And for younger consumers, there’s the familiarity of this type of packaging. For older consumers, there’s an unfamiliarity with it that gets some people to pick it off the shelf.”

Embodi’s marketing also tries to build a middle ground between non-alcohol consumers and those who might be intrigued by Embodi precisely because they’re familiar with red wine. At this point, the company’s primary marketing method is sampling at Whole Foods stores and community events. And Waters said that training of the ‘tasters’ they employ is a crucial step in making sure this form of marketing goes well; each of them receives an hour of instruction in how to handle the subtleties of dealing with potential Embodi customers.

“You can get a good gauge of where consumers fall on the spectrum [of red-wine consumption] and tailor your message to each individual with that knowledge,” Waters explained. “Our goal is to not alienate anyone early in the process.”

Typically, an Embodi sampler might ask a shopper, “Are you a red wine drinker?” Waters said. “And then it usually goes one of two ways. The core red-wine drinker’s first reaction is, ‘[Embodi] took all the fun out of it.’ With the ones who don’t say that, you have a pretty good gauge as well. Either way, you can get quickly into conversation about the product.”

WHAT IS RESVERATROL?

Resveratrol is one of the most widely studied natural products. Found in grapes (only in their skins), wine, grape juice, peanuts, and some berries, its beneficial effects on a range of disease states have come to light over the past decade or so.

These include anti-thrombogenic, anti-inflammatory, cardio-protective, neuro-protective, anti-aging, and cancer preventive and therapeutic activities.

Red wine is a relatively rich source of resveratrol. In grapes, resveratrol is found only in the skins.

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Antioxidant PowerPer Calorie

Independent ORAC (Juice) Analysis: BrunswickLaboratories, MA

AUGUST 200824



Fruit juice maker James White Drinks is launching an organic beetroot juice positioned as the first natural vegetable juice to boost heart health and help lower blood pressure.

Suffolk, UK-based James White Drinks already has a strong position in the premium end of the fruit juice business and sees HeartBeet as an opportunity to develop a new vegetable juice niche.

Founded in 1980 the company has been owned since 1989 by entrepreneur Lawrence Mallinson, who was one of the founders of the New Covent Garden soup brand, today the second-biggest soup brand in the UK after Heinz. Freshly pressed apple juices are the core of the business, but the company has also launched organic juices in single-serve plastic bottles under the Manic Organic brand.

HeartBeet – which is a shelf-stable product with a nine-month life, although it is retailed in chiller cabinets – is the result of a collaboration with medical researchers who were investigating the heart-health benefits of this root vegetable. HeartBeet’s message is its overall goodness for the heart, not only lowering blood pressure, summed up in the tagline: “Organic beetroot juice that’s good for your heart”.

But without a health claim (the company says it is in the process of applying for one), how to persuade consumers to buy your product for its health benefits and thereby stake a place in the challenging heart health functional food market?

A heart-shaped beetroot image on the 250ml bottle hints at heart health. The company says HeartBeet is totally different from any other products targeted at promoting heart health and lowering blood pressure because it delivers the effective ingredient – nitrate – in a natural way that appeals to consumers. However, at the time of going to press, James White Drinks was not yet able to tell New Nutrition Business just what the level of nitrates in HeartBeet is. Tests, the company says, are in the pipeline.

Beetroot’s nitrates make for a healthy heart?

A small juice company has caused a stir with the launch of a beetroot juice that it is claimed can help lower blood pressure. The brand is the result of a collaboration with medical researchers – but the science is still far from the stage where it can support a health claim. By LAURA ENBOM

To ensure consumer appeal, James White has mixed the beetroot juice with 10% apple juice to create a “good, relatively sweet taste”. Being organic strengthens the “naturally healthy” message of the drink, says the company.

The company’s marketing focus is on making the research known and that way increasing the awareness of the benefits of the product. The company wants HeartBeet to be seen as being at the forefront of the research. The collaboration with the medical research community comes across in all communications to make the heart health message clear and credible, it says.

The juice is being retailed in Holland & Barrett – the UK’s biggest health food chain – with a price of £1.49 ($2.94/€1.88) per 250ml bottle – equivalent to £5.96/$11.77/€7.54 per litre.

HeartBeet has a very clear price premium compared to “regular” beetroot juice, which sells for £2.99 ($5.91/€3.78) per 750ml – equivalent to £3.99/$7.88/€5.05 per litre.

James White justifies the price premium by saying that there are no similar products in the market that are supported by science. The company contends that when it comes to treating a health issue, consumers make choices according to the science that is backing up products, not just according to “marketing hype”. These consumers are often those who are actively searching for information about health - hence the product being retailed in shops where these consumers are most likely to be found. James White is targeting all heart health-concerned consumers, though the most responsive group is expected to be older people (more women) who are currently on blood pressure medication.

HAPPY TO BE NICHE

Based on the past performance of other blood pressure-lowering beverages that have appeared on the market – such as a failed dairy drink from Unilever under the Pro.activ brand – the very niche appeal of products with “medicalised” benefits and the price premium, an ultra-niche brand is what Heartbeet is likely to be. That, says Mallinson, is an outcome that he is happy with.

HeartBeet’s development was inspired by research done at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Royal London Hospital which found that a daily dose of natural beetroot juice can have as much effect on blood pressure in healthy volunteers as a conventional tablet prescribed by a doctor.

The researchers discovered that the nitrate in beetroot juice acts like a natural aspirin to

AUGUST 2008 25



WHAT THE SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT BEETROOT

When scientists tested the effects of 500ml of beetroot juice on blood pressure, they were surprised by the size of the blood pressure reduction. Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, of the Barts & the London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London, who led the research, says the “results suggest that the nitrate in beetroot juice acts like a natural aspirin to prevent blood clots and protect the lining of blood vessels, as well as having the additional beneficial effect of lowering blood pressure”.

In the study, which was published in the journal Hypertension in March 2008, healthy volunteers had substantially-reduced blood pressure approximately three hours after ingesting dietary nitrate from 500 mL of beetroot juice – an effect that correlated with peak increases in plasma nitrite concentration.

So has nitrate gone from being a food-safety bad guy to a health-enhancing hero? Says co-author of the new findings, Professor Nigel Benjamin, of University College London: “Ten years ago when we started this research, everyone thought nitrate was a toxic substance which should be avoided, but it was then realised that our own body makes this mineral and concentrates it in our saliva. Bacteria on the surface of our tongue convert the nitrate to a more reactive chemical - nitrite, which when swallowed very easily converts to nitric oxide. This is a very powerful substance which is continually made by our blood vessels to keep our blood pressure low, and is also made in large quantities by white cells in our bloodstream to fight infection. It is also very important in preventing blood clots from forming in arteries by stopping platelet activation.”

The European Food Safety Authority’s Contaminants Panel has set an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for nitrate of 3.7 mg/kg b.w./day. It also says that the beneficial effects of eating vegetables and fruit outweigh potential risk to human health from exposure to nitrate through vegetables.

Beetroot is one of the highest-nitrate vegetables: other leafy green vegetables are high in nitrates, particularly spinach and lettuce. The amount of nitrate in a vegetable varies according to various factors, such as the extent of use of nitrate fertilisers and the amount of sunlight to which vegetables are exposed.

Just how much nitrate does beetroot contain? A study of vegetables in Estonia in 2006 found it had 1,446 mg of nitrates per kg – higher than many other vegetables.

prevent blood clots and protect the lining of blood vessels, as well as having the additional beneficial effect of lowering blood pressure.

Beetroot is unusual in that it contains very high levels of nitrate. All plants need nitrate to grow and make protein. Beetroot is said to be better than other plants at taking it up from the soil and storing it in its swollen root.

As James White Drinks was basically the only UK company making beetroot juice the researchers approached the company with their results. Lawrence Mallinson was excited about the research and the opportunity to develop a new, natural niche product with a very clear message. “I like niches,” Mallinson told New Nutrition Business.

Sales of James White’s pre-existing beetroot juices rose following research that revealed beetroot’s blood pressure benefi ts.

James White also has a beetroot-apple blend under the Manic Organic brand.

Mallinson said that sales of the company’s other, pre-existing beetroot juice – Organic Beetroot Juice – grew by five times after the results of the research were published in early 2008. He emphasized that the research is ongoing and larger scale clinical trials will be done in the future.

AUGUST 200826


N E W P R O D U C T S

Country Company Brand & Product Description

PART 1: NORTH AMERICA – FOODS & BEVERAGES

All new product information is sourced exclusively from Mintel’s GNPD (Global New Products Database), which can be visited at

www.gnpd.com. Mintel can be contacted at 18-19 Long Lane, London EC1A 9PL, U.K.. Tel. +44-(0)20-7606-4533, Fax +44-(0)20-7600-3327

FUNCTIONAL & HEALTHY-EATING NEW PRODUCT LAUNCHESEach month we summarise new product launches from around the world.• Part 1: North America • Part 2: Rest of the World

BAKERY

Canada European Breads Bakery European Breads Bakery Organic Euro Flax Bread

Features a high content of alpha linolenic acids. The bread contains flax seeds which have been shown in studies to lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels. Flax seed may also help lower triglycerides and blood pressure. Made with 100% certified organic ingredients and is rich in fibre.

USA Vitalicious VitaMuffin Vitalicious Golden Corn Muffins

Have only 100 calories per 2-oz. muffin. Made with wholegrain, contains 6g fibre, 4g protein, is low-sodium, is fat-free and fortified with 15 vitamins and minerals. The vitamuffins are said to contain less sugar and more vitamins and minerals than an apple.

BEVERAGES

USA Novelle Maqui Superberry Liquid Supplement A deeply purpled berry that is claimed to have a higher ORAC value “than any fruit or berry on the planet”, 8-10 times higher than pomegranate, and more than 50 times higher than a glass of red wine. Maqui berries are high in anthocyanins and polyphenols. Novelle uses only ingredients harvested by the Mapuche Indians, using sustainable harvesting practices.

USA NBI Juiceworks Sun Shower Light ‘N Healthy Super Juice

Available in the following varieties: Stamina, which is grape and apple flavoured, fortified with vitamins and fights fatigue and enhances energy; Defense, which is a fruit and vegetable berry-flavoured immunity booster that fights stress and fatigue, and is fortified with 25-plus essential vitamins, nutrients, amino acids, electrolytes and herbs; Heart Healthy, which is tropical passion-flavoured and fortified with essential B vitamins, herbs, antioxidants, vitamins A, C and E and bioflavonoids to promote heart health; Revitalize, which is apple, kiwi and mango-flavoured, fortified with 25-plus essential vitamins, restores balance and essential elements, boosts the immune system and promotes longevity.

USA Western Family Complete Balanced Nutritional Drink Contains 24 essential vitamins and minerals, is lactose- and gluten-free and contains 250 calories per can. The product is said to provide balanced nutrition that can help meet nutritional needs. Contains protein to help build and maintain muscle tissue, carbohydrates to provide energy, vitamin C to help maintain healthy bones, teeth and cartilage and calcium, magnesium and vitamin D to help maintain bones and teeth. It also contains antioxidant vitamin C and E to help protect cells from damage, and zinc and vitamin C to maintain the immune system.

USA Target Archer Farms Heart Fortified Water Beverage

Available in natural strawberry orange flavour. It contains plant sterols, 100mg EGCC, antioxidants and vitamins A, C and E. Also available are: Beauty Pear Lychee; Motion Triple Berry; Energy Pink Grapefruit; Relax Lavender Berry; Build Tropical; Mango; Pomegranate; Spearmint; Cucumber; Jasmine.

BREAKFAST CEREALS

USA Kellogg Kellogg’s Smart Start Strawberry Oat Bites

Comprised of wholegrain and antioxidants for a strong heart. The lightly sweetened, toasted strawberry-flavoured oat biscuits are a good source of potassium, beta carotene and vitamin E. The product is low in sodium and may help decrease risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Beta-carotene helps provide healthy skin and hair, while vitamin E improves immune system function and prevents the breakdown of body tissue.

CONFECTIONERY

USA Mars CocoaVia Chocolate Covered Mixed Berries

Formulated to help reduce cholesterol and to promote healthy circulation. The product contains heart-healthy vitamins B6, B12, folic acid and antioxidant C and E, is an excellent source of calcium and contains 140 calories per serving. CocoaVia products are made using Cocoapro, a process that guarantees the retention of high levels of naturally occurring cocoa flavanols.

USA Clif Bar Luna Sport Moons Energy Chews Claimed to be the first women’s organic energy chew. Comprises moon-shaped, bite-size pieces, which are easy to eat and only 100 calories per pack. It is enriched with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals essential for women’s health. The chews are made with 95% organic ingredients. The following flavours are available: Blueberry, with antioxidant vitamins A, C and E; Watermelon, with energizing B vitamins; and Pomegranate, which contains 50% of the daily value of vitamin C.

DAIRY

Canada Astro Dairy Products Astro Biobest Croissance Smart Growth Probiotic Yogurt

Claimed to be the only yogurt made with the unique combination of natural DHA milk, probiotic cultures and prebiotic fibre. The product is naturally sweetened, and free from artificial flavours and preservatives. The pack contains eight cups, 100g of each.

USA Cabot Creamery 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese With Omega-3 DHA

Said to be the first U.S. cheddar fortified with omega-3 DHA. It contains Life’s DHA brand DHA, from Martek, which is certified kosher and halal and is non-GMO.

USA Wal-Mart Great Value BeneFIT Probiotic Light Nonfat Yogurt

Made with added fibre, contains 1/3 fewer calories than regular low-fat yogurts. The yogurt contains active cultures to help regulate digestive health and is gluten free.

SNACKS

Canada Pure of Holland Pure Cherry Cashew Bar USDA certified organic, vegan certified, and is said to be raw, healthy, and delightful. The kosher certified product contains 400mg omega 3, low sodium, 4g organic fibre, and 1.5 fruit servings. The bar contains no refined sugar, no additives or preservatives, no trans fats, no cholesterol, dairy, gluten, or soy and no GMOs. The all-natural bar is not cooked or processed.

AUGUST 2008 27



Country Company Brand & Product Description

PART 2: REST OF THE WORLD – FOODS & BEVERAGES

BAKERY

Mexico Productos Alimenticios Dondé Dondé Cubanas Galletas Integrales (Wholegrain Crackers)

Enriched with fibre, vitamins and iron. This product is part of a wholegrain range, said to help provide good health.

Malaysia Danone Danone Tiger Yogurt Cream Biscuits Said to help support growth of good bacteria in the intestines. The biscuits provide probiotic cultures and also aid digestion.

Philippines Tubu Food Manufacturing Lite Choice Premium Rice & Oats Snack

Rich in fibre and free from trans fat, cholesterol and gluten. Made from who-legrain rice and DSM’s Teavigo, which is a source of EGCG, a fat burner said to enhance the metabolism.

Singapore Munchy Food Industries Munchy’s Lexus Chocolate Cream Crackers

Sandwich calcium crackers with a unique combination of nine essential vitamins and minerals. Contains calcium to support development of strong bones and teeth, and has been formulated by a nutritionist.

Hong Kong The Garden Company Garden Hi -Calcium Sandwich Bread Rich in milk calcium, phosphorous and vitamin D. Two slices are said to provide the same amount of calcium as one cup (235ml) of fresh milk. The product retails in a pack containing six slices.

Mexico Pan Fiiller Fiiller Galletas con Arándnano (Cranberry Chip Cookies)

Made with sunflower seeds and pecans. Cranberries are said to be a rich source of the antioxidant phenolic, which is beneficial for health and the body’s natural defence against “bad” cholesterol. The antioxidant is also said to help reduce dental plaque and eliminate stomach bacteria.

Spain Nutrition & Santé Chocolate Negro (Rice Tarts with Authentic Dark Chocolate)

Made with 100% natural ingredients and premium Belgium dark chocolate. This product contains only 77kcal per tart, and is free from gluten, preserva-tives and colourings. Retailed in a 103g pack.

Philippines Gardenia Bakeries Gardenia Mini Wonders Carrot Raisin Loaf

A loaf made with premium fresh carrots, offering vitamin A and beta-caro-tene, blended with raisins. Free from cholesterol and bromate and enriched with vitamins and minerals. Comes in a convenient “mini wonder” 200g pack.

France Gerblé Crunchy Honey & Sesame Bran Biscuit

Designed to promote digestion and intestinal health thanks to its bifidus action. This product also contains magnesium and is free from preservatives, colouring, trans fat and artificial flavour.

Chile Ideal Oroweat Ideal Pan Fibra Miel (Honey Bread with Fiber)

A sliced bread with prebiotics said to help maintain intestinal flora balance. A good source of fibre and low in sodium. It is trans-fat and cholesterol free, and retails in a 410g bag.

BEVERAGES

Finland Monster Beverage Monster Energy A carbonated energy drink, enriched with vitamins, caffeine, taurine, L-carni-tine and ginseng. According to the company, this product “packs a double shot of the most potent ingredients that deliver twice the buzz of regular energy drinks”. Retailed in a 473ml can.

Spain Coca Cola España Powerade Aquaplus The Powerade range of sports drinks has been extended with the addition of Powerade Aquaplus, a low calorie sport drink aimed at women. The product has a citrus flavour and contains 16kcal/100ml with sodium and potassium minerals to help the body hydrate. Retailed in a 500ml bottle.

Spain Danone Security Feel Better Recovering Drink

Said to counter the effects of a hangover and indigestion. Based on vegetable extracts, mainly artichoke, and is sold in packs containing 10x30ml bottles. At present, it is only sold on-line but the distributor is looking at closing agree-ments to introduce the drink into the grocery and catering channels.

Vietnam Vinamilk Vinamilk Dielac Pedia Special Nutrition Formula for Losing Weight

Specially developed for children, this product is said to contain synbiotic & inositol for body resistance and easy digestion; MCT & L-carnitine for refreshing health quickly; taurine & choline for brain development and sight, and calcium for growth. Retailed in a 900g can.

Vietnam Nutifood Company Nuti SlimMax Proslim Special Formula For Diet

A scientific programme for effective weight management and loss. According to the manufacturer, positive results will occur after one week of intake. Added CLA, a fatty acid, is said to reduce body fat by increasing the metabo-lism rate, isomaltulose, a carbohydrate, is said to help control hunger, and 21 vitamins and minerals are said to promote a healthy digestive system and to provide the body with important nutrition.

UK Vitabiotics Vitabiotics Wellwoman Low Calorie Still Drink

Designed for the nutritional requirements of women on the go.With added vitamins, minerals and active botanicals with pomegranate and cranberry juice. It also contains a blend of green tea, elderberry and grape seed extract, “which together provide a rich source of antioxidants that help maintain a strong immune system and circulation”. Also contains artichoke extract to help maintain a strong digestive system and liver function and guarana extract as an energizer.

Indonesia Djojonegoro C-1000 You C1000 Lemon Water Isotonic Drink

Contains 1000mg of vitamin C, and electrolytes to balance the body and replenish lost fluids. Retailed in a 500ml bottle. Also available is an Orange flavoured variety.

South Africa Aqua Bimini Aqua Bimini Functional Water Contains QuinMax, a patented blend of immune-boosting ingredients, and water from the Cederberg mountains. QuinMax also features anti-viral and antioxidant benefits and is therefore said to have anti-ageing qualities. Claimed to boost energy levels by increasing the body’s serotonin levels.

Japan Kirin Beverage Kirin Sports Supli Soniq A new sports beverage which contains 2000mg of glucose (per 100ml) which is a monosaccharide and high in energy efficiency, and 10mg (per 100ml) of an amino acid called GABA (gamma-aminobutyrate, citric acid) which is said to help with glucose metabolization and support mental activities. In addition, the liquid is a hypotonic and easily absorbed by the body. Has a refreshing grapefruit flavour.

AUGUST 200828



Japan Coca-Cola Aquarius Conditioning Shot The first sports jelly drink from the Aquarius brand. It comes in three variet-ies: lemon-flavoured, 36kcal Conditioning Shot with 14 minerals and vitamins for daily conditioning, to improve sports performance in a variety of situa-tions; yogurt-flavoured Powerful Shot, which contains medium-chain fatty acid developed by Coca-Cola’s Tokyo lab and Nisshin OilliO Group for sustain-able energy, supporting 25 minutes of running for a 60kg man in his 30s; and grapefruit flavoured Recovery Shot with vitamin E, citric acid and amino acids to help the body recover quickly post-exercise. All varieties carry the Olympics logo and are labeled “official sports jelly drink”.

South Korea Maeil Dairy Maeil Disney Strawberry Flavoured Powder

Contains colostrum protein powder, vitamins and DHA powder. The product features pictures of Disney characters. This product needs to be served with milk and retails in a 340g carton containing 17x20 sticks.

Portugal Laboratório Jneves Jneves Go Fit Drenante Sabor a Ananás (Pineapple Flavoured Slim Drink)

Said to help to accelerate weight loss, eliminating excess fat and liquid, and rebalancing the body’s nutrients. This product also helps prevent cellulite and regulate the appetite. It is retailed in a 500ml bottle with a measuring cup.

Japan Ajinomoto General Foods Aroma Black (Moderately Sweet) Blendy

The first chilled coffee that has been granted a certified health product status, for its 3g formulation of coffee oligosaccharide that suppresses fat absorption. It is targeted at those concerned about body fat, and is to be taken 200ml daily.

Japan Shiseido Pharmaceutical White Update A beauty drink containing 1200mg of Vitamin C as well as licorice extract, coix lacryma-jobi (Job’s tears) seed extract, GABA (aminobutyric acid), enzymatically processed vitamin P (bioflavonoids), ceramide, and vitamin E. Caffeine-free.

BREAKFAST CEREALS

Singapore H & J Brüggen Yog Active Junior Yogurt Chocolate Pillows

Crunchy rice flakes with probiotic yogurt and chocolatey pillows. A source of seven essential nutrients, iron and niacin (vitamin B3). The cereal contains yogurt pearls which contain 15% active Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria. The preservative-free cereal features an aluminium inner packaging to preserve the freshness of the product and its probiotic properties.

Egypt Sanitarium Sanitarium Light ‘n’ Tasty Plum & Almond Cereal

High in calcium for strong bones and teeth, folate beneficial for pregnant women, iron for energy and vitality, and fibre for digestive health. The who-legrain cereal contains real fruit and retails in a 600g pack. Also available is a Mango & Passionfruit variant.

CONFECTIONERY

France Gerblé Gerblé GlucoRegul Low Glycemic Dark Chocolate

Has a glycemic index reduced by 58% compared to a regular dark chocolate; the results are clinically proven.

China Lotte Lotte Flavono Xylitol Gum Available in a Green Tea and Mint flavour. Xylitol helps prevent dental cavities. This sugar-free product is retailed in a 61.5g jar containing 41 pieces.

Japan Kanro Non Sugar Lozenges with Salt Granules

Citrus-flavoured lozenges with no fruit juice, formulated with salt granules. Contain sodium, calcium, iron and magnesium.

Denmark Toms Toms Nellie Dellies Salty Liquorice Contains 75% less calories than ordinary candies without compromising on flavour. No added sugar, maltitol or other sugar alcohols; the sweeteners are from maize and wheat fibres.

DAIRY

China Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy Group Mengniu Wan Shang Hao Flavoured Milk with Collagen and vitamin E

To be consumed during the night time. Fortified with collagen, dietary fibre, vitamin E and alpha-lactalbumin. This UHT milk is said to have beauty benefits and to be nutritious.

China Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy Group Mengniu Xian Wei Xin Yi Li Duo Nong

Now available in a Grain & Apricot flavour. This yogurt is made from fresh milk and four types of grains. It contains four type of probiotics (LABS), ben-eficial to the digestive system.

South Korea Maeil Dairy Mom Smile Milk Powder for Mom Cocoa-flavoured, containing iron, folic acid, DHA and herb extracts, this prod-uct is available in a box of fifteen 20g single-portion sticks.

Indonesia NutriFood WRP Vanilla Peach and WRP Skin 2 C These two new supplement beverages are rich in collagen, and are formulated to “maintain the elasticity of skin”. The collagen comes from the soft bones of cattle and is certified by the Indonesian Ulemas Council.

Poland Danone Danone Danacol Yogurt Drink According to the manufacturer, one bottle a day will lower cholesterol levels in three weeks. Retails in a 400g pack containing 4 x 100g bottles.

Taiwan Kuang Chuan Dairy Kuang Chuan Chen-Yi-Dou Phytosterol Milk

Tested on humans and claimed to be scientifically proven to reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and to lower LDL cholesterol. Available in either 290ml cartons or 936ml containers.

SAUCES & SEASONINGS

Spain Mercadona Hacendado Tomato Frito con Calcio A ready-to-use Tomato Sauce with Calcium aimed at children. This gluten-free product is fortified with calcium to strengthen bones and is available in a two 200g recyclable pack. Also available is a Tomate Frito Casero (Home Made Fried Tomato Sauce) variety retailed in a 400g recyclable can container.

SNACKS

Brazil Solo GI Nutrition Solo GI Barra de Cereal com baixa dose de Glicemia (Low Glycemic Nutrition Bar)

Available in a Peanut Power flavour. It is claimed to sustain energy and keep you satisfied for longer. Each bar contains 24 vitamins and minerals, 13 grams of protein and is a good source of fibre. The kosher-certified product is retailed in a 50g pack.

Finland LU Suomi Oy Kaura-Omena (Oats-Apple Cereal Bar)

Enriched with vitamin B6, calcium and iron, and has a high fibre content. This product contains 52% oats and apple, and is available in a 200g pack contain-ing six cereal bars.

SWEETENERS & SUGAR

UK Healthy by Nature Limited Perfect Sweet 100% All Natural Xylitol

A natural alternative to sugar. Features low GI value and contains 75% less carbohydrates than sugar. Said to promote healthy teeth, and can be used in cooking. It is also “diabetic friendly”.

UK Splenda Brown Sugar Blend According to the manufacturer, this is the first time that a low-calorie brown sugar is available. It contains just 50% of the calorific value of ordinary brown sugar, but with all the taste. The product is retailed in a 454g pack.

AUGUST 2008 29


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Ordering is easy…see inside back cover or visit www.new-nutrition.com Price: $295/€200/£160/A$345/NZ$395/C$295/¥33,000

Published June 2008

Superfruits are the product of a strategy, not something you fi nd growing on a tree.

Superfruits are revolutionising the way consumers relate to fruit and fruit-based products and they’re growing their market fast – from 40%-100% every year. And yet just a handful of fruits have crossed over from commodity status to superfruit stardom.

This 268-page book provides a checklist for superfruit success that is written as a practical “how-to” guide for:

• food and beverage marketers

• R&D managers

• fruit growers, processors and marketers

• ingredient manufacturers

This book is the answer for every industry professional who has ever wondered how to use fruit to target the wellness foods trend.It contains 12 detailed case studies, based on interviews with senior executives, and supermarket sales data.

268 PAGES, 35 CHARTS AND TABLES, 271 COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS, 12 DETAILED CASE STUDIES

About the authors Karl Crawford is Business Leader for Health and Food at New Zealand’s world-renowned fruit science company HortResearch. Julian Mellentin has spent many years as a food industry analyst and consultant, and is also editor of New Nutrition Business Journal.

Superfruit: strategy for successNEW BOOK

AUGUST 200832


Ordering is easy…see inside back cover or visit www.new-nutrition.com or www.kidsnutritionreport.com

PRICE FOR EITHER PDF OR PPT – €200 / $295 / £160 / A$345 / NZ$395 / ¥33,000 / C$295PRICE FOR BOTH PDF/PPT PACKAGE – €320 / $472 / £256 / A$552 / NZ$632 / ¥52,800 / C$472

A concise 35-page description first sets out:

• which marketing techniques are most effective and why• how probiotic products are priced and how some can achieve super-premium prices• how packaging innovation can be used to differentiate a product and achieve a

premium price• why you should create a new brand rather than extend an existing brand• why successful brands are the ones that create new categories or new segments.

This practical analysis is supported over the following 70 pages by 13 detailed case studies, all illustrated with supermarket sales data.

Probiotics: Successful Strategies from the Global Marketplace

This report is written for anyone trying to develop an effective strategy in the challenging and fast-changing area of probiotics. It sets out the seven steps to creating a successful probiotic brand.

Probiotics: Successful Strategies

60 www.new-nutrition.com

“For a product like Actimel,” said Danone’s Wilson, “visibility is what counts- and visibility leads to a snowball effect on sales.”

Such has been the success of the fridge concept that Danone now uses branded stand-alone fridge units for other brands where it wants to get high visibility quickly, notably the recent launch of its Essensis beauty yoghurt (see photo).

MARKETING TO HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Medical marketing can play a useful role in supporting brands like Actimel and while Danone invests heavily in making information about Actimel available for health professionals, medical marketing is not a driver of the brand – rather it is there as an insurance policy. In 2002, Ian Wilson informed NNB that “Doctors are finding themselves faced more and more with questions about life rather than diseases, problems such as ‘I’m tired’ or ‘I’m stressed’ especially from women. They’re also faced with minor illnesses, such as diarrhoea in children. Doctors don’t want to be constantly prescribing

antibiotics and are increasingly looking for other solutions.

“Added to that, consumers are asking them a lot of questions about food, and doctors in every country have low nutrition training. But doctors are now becoming more involved in the food side and the total management of illness than in the past.

“As a result, with all the information about food and health that’s around – on TV, in magazines the consumer can be more knowledgeable than the doctor, who often doesn’t watch TV and doesn’t read the women’s magazines. “So people come in and ask ‘What do you think about this Actimel?’ and doctors are not very happy if they don’t know about it – they don’t like to feel less expert than their patients and like to feel in control.

“As you might expect, Actimel representatives can find it difficult getting time to talk with medical professionals – sometimes they have to make appointments a year in advance – but, increasingly, Danone finds that doctors are open to listening:

“Our objective is to inform them, we don’t preach to them,” Wilson affirms. “We don’t start

Actimel products have good visibility in mass retailers. This picture, taken in a branch of the Real hypermarket chain in Munich, Germany, illustrates the amount of shelf-space commanded by the brand.



There isn’t much point in putting in a major effort to create a probiotic brand with all the development and ingredient costs that entails unless you’re going to be able to earn superior retail prices and therefore higher profit margins. Luckily the ability to premium-price probiotics is supported by consumer preferences. Even in Germany, a market where supermarket sales of yoghurt are highly price-competitive, Activia retails at a 100% premium to own-label probiotic yoghurts. In the US, too, Activia sells at a 30% premium to competing “regular” brands and a 100% premium to own-label yoghurts (see Chart 4).

In neither market has premium-pricing proven any barrier to Activia becoming the number one probiotic brand and attaining mass-market status.

Packaging innovation is also a good way to command – and conceal – high price premiums. A very good example is daily dose probiotic dairy drinks, which need to be of a certain size to deliver

an effective “dose” of bacteria, but at the same time enable such brands to sell at high prices. Brands such as Actimel and Yakult are among the world’s most expensive products, measured on a price per litre basis.

To use the example of Actimel in the Netherlands again:

• 1-litre of milk retails at around €0.75/$1.15• A 4-pack of Actimel 100ml drinks retails for

€2.15/$3.50• If Actimel was sold by the litre in 1-litre cartons

its retail price would be €5.38/$8.38 a litre!

Packaging innovation makes it very difficult for consumers to easily compare prices. You can be sure that at such a price Actimel – which is basically drinking yoghurt plus probiotic bacteria – will be a very high margin product.

5. An opportunity for premium pricing and packaging innovation

Danone Activia has been phenomenally successful despite selling at a significant price premium over regular, non-probiotic yoghurt brands such as Yoplait Trix in US supermarkets. As the chart shows, Activia sells at a 100% premium to supermarket own-label regular yoghurts.

Source: Albertsons.com

CHART 4: PRICE COMPARISON OF SPOONABLE YOGHURTS IN THE U.S.

0

0.5

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

$0.10

Albertsonsown-label

$0.154

YoplaitTrix

$0.20

YoplaitYo-Plus

$0.218

DanoneActivia

Priceper

ounce ($)



CHART 2: THE LIFESTYLE CONSUMER

Source: Mellentin, J. & Wennstrom, P. The Food & Health Marketing Handbook, 2002.

CHART 1: THE TECHNOLOGY CONSUMER

Source: Mellentin, J. & Wennstrom, P. The Food & Health Marketing Handbook, 2002.

These are the early adopters. Representing, according to research by Health Focus International, between 2%-8% of the market, these are the people who have a medicalised or near-medical need for a product. They need the technology of the functional food to address their health condition. They put functional before food and see products in a medicalised context and, as with drugs, they will pay a substantial premium for something that addresses their condition.

These are the people who like to be first with new benefits. They are interested in maintaining their wellness, not fighting illness. They will adopt new brands and will pay a premium for a product but only if it supports their lifestyle.

THE NUTRITIONAL PRODUCTS LIFECYCLE

The lifecycle was developed to aid understanding of brand positioning and the evolution of markets. Many products start out on the left, targeting consumers who have a need for a product that has effective technology and selling in low volumes at premium prices, and over time increase volumes and move down the price curve to the right, until they are mass-market products.

Volume

Unit Selling Price

Unit Selling Price

Published by

Case Study


by Julian Mellentin

Available in PDF only

PPT – 181 slides, product illustrations, charts and tables of data

PDF – 122 pages, over 60 illustrations and charts, supported with brand sales data

Now available in both PowerPoint and PDF!

Purchase Combined

Package and receive a

20% DISCOUNT

AUGUST 2008 33


Powerpoint Slide Presentations All New! For the first time many of our most popular reports are available as Powerpoint Presentations – Ready to use instantly!

10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2008

PPT – 166 slides, product illustrations, charts and tables of dataFully updated June 2008! The Powerpoint version includes new data and covers the latest developments in the Key Trends.


PPT – 181 slides, product illustrations, charts and tables of dataPublished July 2008! This report is written for anyone trying to develop an effective strategy in the challenging and fast-changing area of probiotics.

Innocent Drinks: What makes Europe’s fastest-growing smoothie brand so successful?

PPT – 71 slides, product illustrations, charts and tables of dataPublished July 2008! For any company, large or small, looking to create a successful health proposition the story of the meteoric rise of smoothie makers Innocent Drinks shows what can be achieved in a tough, highly competitive category.

10 Factors for Success in Energy Drinks – Europe and the U.S.

PPT – 99 slides, product illustrations, charts and tables of dataPublished July 2008! This new report uses case studies from the energy drink market, supported by supermarket sales data and primary research.

Strategies for successful innovation in kids’ nutritional dairy: Six key case studies

PPT – 59 slides, product illustrations, charts and tables of dataPublished July 2008! To make your life easier this is an explanation of the six steps for successful new product development in kids dairy, set out in a concise, powerpoint format.

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REPORTS

CASE STUDIES

AUGUST 200834


PUBLICATIONS

REPORTS

Superfruit: new book defines strategy for superfruit successSuperfruits are the product of a strategy, not something you find growing on a tree.Superfruits are revolutionising the way consumers relate to fruit and fruit-based products and they’re growing their market fast – from 40%-100% every year. And yet just a handful of fruits have crossed over from commodity status to superfruit stardom. This book provides a checklist for superfruit success.


This report is written for anyone trying to develop an effective strategy in the challenging and fast-changing area of probiotics. It sets out the seven steps to creating a successful probiotic brand and describes probiotic strategy both in dairy and emerging new segments such as fruit juice and solid foods.

NOW AVAILABLE IN PPT WITH NEW INFORMATION!

7 Outstanding Companies in Functional & Health-Enhancing FoodsOur latest report provides insights into the strategies of the most outstanding companies in the field of food and health. Companies featured in the report have the most advanced and successful strategies in nutrition and health; have strategies which illustrate the future direction of functional foods; and deliver valuable lessons about how to be successful in the business of food and health. Our selection includes: Danone, Unilever, PepsiCo, Emmi, Yakult Honsha, Pom Wonderful and Innocent Drinks.

10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2008Our annual review, 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health, is one of the most sought-after publications in the food industry. The report identifies the 10 mega-trends that will have the most impact on the food and beverage industries over the year ahead. It points companies towards some clear and practical strategies for their functional food and beverage developments, production and marketing.

NOW AVAILABLE IN PPT WITH NEW INFORMATION!

5 Key Trends in Kids’ Nutrition 2008In a world in which health is becoming a standard for the entire food and beverage industry, one of the current challenges (and a fecund opportunity) lies in the kids’ nutrition market. The report identifies the five mega-trends that will have the most impact on the market for kids’ healthy food and beverages and provides detailed scrutiny of the links between kids’ food, nutrition, health and business.

10 Factors for Success in Energy Drinks – Europe and the U.S.Now in Powerpoint!10 Factors for Success in Energy Drinks looks broadly at strategy and success in the energy drinks category in the US and Europe. It examines key players, new entrants and new niches within the market as well as providing market data.

Functional and Health-Enhancing Juices: 7 Key TrendsUsing 15 detailed case studies this report analyses the functional and health-enhancing juice business. It explains that digestive health, behind superfruits, is the single most-promising trend for the juice industry – and demonstrates how two companies have quietly built digestive brands worth over $50 million in annual sales. It explores juices with added ingredients and it points out that the areas of beauty, energy and weight management all have the potential for profitable growth.

Failures in Functional Foods: 10 Key Case Studies & 10 Key LessonsThe functional foods market is a highly complex one. Success with a new product or ingredient in this harsh and demanding market is very rare. In fact, failure is far more common than success and most products sell on a niche basis with very, very select few ever graduating into the mass market. The report analyses some of the more spectacular failures and offers strategies for reducing risk in the functional foods world.

Success and Failure in Functional Water: Eleven Case Studies from Europe, the US and AsiaWhat makes consumers choose functional waters? What are the critical success factors in marketing waters with added health benefits? Why is the category mass-market in Japan, but still only niche elsewhere in the world? Why have so few brands been successful? And why have most product launches failed? The report examines the marketing strategies of 11 different functional water brands and identifies the critical factors for bringing functional waters to market.

The Food & Health Marketing HandbookIn a competitive world how do you take your technology to market so that it’s your product that wins at the point of purchase? This handbook tells you how to get the best out of the science and the health benefits of your ingredients or products.

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CASE STUDIES

Danone Actimel: Innovation Builds a Probiotic Mega-BrandDanone’s Actimel probiotic drinking yoghurt is the world’s biggest immunity brand and one of the world’s biggest and most successful probiotic brands. In this report Actimel’s marketing communications, pricing, packaging, labeling, merchandising, advertising and consumer insights are analysed and explained in detail and illustrated with colour photographs, charts and images from advertisements to provide valuable lessons from which all food and beverage businesses can learn.

Innocent Drinks: What makes Europe’s fastest-growing smoothie brand so successful? Now in Powerpoint!For any company, large or small, looking to create a successful health proposition the story of the meteoric rise of smoothie makers Innocent Drinks shows what can be achieved in a tough, highly competitive category. Innocent’s strategies are not elusive, nor unachievable – they are instead steps that any company can easily take to propel its brands to new levels.

Coconut Water: The Single-ingredient Sports Recovery DrinkProducts that are “as natural as possible” have the biggest consumer appeal – in every category and in every country. Nowhere is the opportunity for an “all natural” product bigger than in the market for sports recovery drinks.

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Our case studies and reports give you unique insights into the vital and changing food, beverage and nutrition market.

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