The name is Suso - both of the drink and of the philosophy that goes behind it. Let's look at the new drink first.

Sean Uprichard, the CEO at Suso says: "Suso is unashamedly a fizzy drink, but a new kind of fizzy drink - one that is ‘better for you'. It contains 100 per cent fruit juice, is carbonated, but contains no additives whatsoever - no added sugar, no sweeteners, no preservatives, no colourings, no added flavourings, nothing!"

Suso is available in three flavours - Orange, Lemon and Berry - in vendable 250ml cans. Alyson Carter, a nutritional therapist at Nutrition 4 Life says: "It's nothing but fruit and bubbles. All the nutritional value of a piece of fruit but with the refreshment thrown in. What a great idea for a fizzy drink!"

Importantly, Suso claims to meet all the nutritional standards for food and drink in schools. The real thought provoker is when you consider these ‘better for you' credentials alongside the fact that Suso seems to be the fizzy drink children actually want.

Unlike most other healthy soft drinks, Suso is trying to do things very differently around the activating and marketing of its drink. Advertising seems to avoid attempting to drive home hardcore health messages. The company seems to have recognised that too much of this only goes to put kids off, while also recognising that children and teens are going to buy what they want - and that is very rarely driven by images of fruit and health claims.

So Suso aims to inspire young people, trying to instil in them the positive ‘No Can't Do' attitude which Sean insists is what Suso is all about. For Suso celebrates the power of imagination, creativity and determination and looks to inspire children to harness their own creative potential. The team do this through telling inspirational stories of No Can't Do achievement as they find them (and in some cases enable them to happen) and thereafter through supporting creative communities and projects nationwide.

One such creative project is Urban Earth, an ambitious undertaking of the urban adventurer and geography teacher Daniel Raven-Ellison, who walks across some of the biggest cities in the world, taking pictures every eight paces and reconstructing the images into stop-frame sequences. His work certainly puts a new angle on geography, making it relevant and engaging to children, and encouraging them to explore and creatively connect with their own surroundings.

Sean explains: "We believe that imagination, creativity and determination are powerful resources when you put them together, and we wanted to put this to the test - to find new platforms to bring young people together, people with talent, ideas and drive to clash heads and create ideas."

In some respects the people at Suso are trying to live the whole brand idea themselves. They fundamentally reject the idea that it can't be done.  Walking the talk, through their own imagination creativity and determination they have launched into a very competitive market place, taking on the big corporate businesses that dominate the soft drinks sector in an effort to offer a better choice in fizzy, yet healthy, drinks.  Against a backdrop of brand inspiration and support they are trying to get us all, but particularly our children, to drink healthier, be healthier and think creatively.

Suso drinks are already widely available through national schools distributors and contract caterers. Some 400 schools currently list the product.

John Sewell interviewed Sean Uprichard for Vending International to find out more about this unusual project which has benefits for schools, children, vending and beyond.

VI: I understand that your roots, and those of some of your colleagues, lie in Coca Cola and Red Bull. How did your experiences with those mega-brands influence your thinking in establishing the Suso drink?

SU: All of us, that is Harry (formerly of Red Bull), myself (out of Coke) and Andrew (formerly PJS and PepsiCo) - were well aware of the widespread appeal of carbonated soft drinks in the UK. But what stood out for each of us was the fundamental lack of choice therein.

On top of that, ‘fizzy' had become something of a nasty word in drinks - up there with ‘chocolate'.' crisps' and ‘tobacco'! This malaise was, however, attributable to the additives (sugar, sweeteners, preservatives etc) and not actually the fizziness per se. Bubbles, of course, aren't bad for us. It was thus immediately apparent to us that the CSD market lacked a quality proposition with the fun and refreshment of a typical CSD, but the uncompromising ‘better for you' credentials of a fruit juice or smoothie.

We were never blind to the fact that launching into this market was not going to be easy - a market in decline and dominated by the heavyweight players in the industry - but we always felt that the opportunity was there and that within our midst we had the ability to carve out the appropriate proposition to realise it.

VI: What came first, the drink or the philosophy? If the latter, how did it come about and why?

SU: It was actually a marrying of ideas - brand and product. The product opportunity was clear from the outset, but perhaps even more so was the opportunity to build a new iconic brand in drinks (and maybe even beyond) like no other. One that inspired, supported and enabled in its messaging and activation.

The Suso Project is an online community we created to encourage and facilitate unlikely encounters between artists, musicians, designers, photographers, techies, writers, motionographers, animators, film-makers, actors, illustrators, engineers, scientists - anyone! We wanted to explore and expose the power of creative collaboration, to see what happens when diverse talents meet, ideas collide and people conspire. It represents the first step on a long creative journey - it's the spark, the meeting point, the place where you're never quite sure what's going to happen.

The premise is simple. People share ideas that they want to bring to life with the community so they can be discussed and developed. Ideas can be easily browsed by anyone, and when they find something they want to lend their own talents to, they can become contributors to the idea. Different people with different talents unite around the idea and agree to make it happen. The idea then becomes an active Project.

To be a part of it all, you just need to just sign up and start digging around to see what you find. See if an idea grabs you. Or share some of your own, no matter how grand, random or unattainable they may be.

We'll be contributing something ourselves, of course, supporting the community and the contributors and helping to bring the best ideas and projects to life. We've assembled a team of creative luminaries, all of whom have contributed to creative culture in their own indomitable way, to keep an eye on the site and pick out the ideas and projects that catch their eye.

They have access to a fund of £15,000 to distribute to the most deserving projects, the ideas with the potential to really go somewhere. It could be £500. It could be £10,000. The panel decides...

VI: Are there other Suso products in the pipeline?

SU: Today the Suso drink comes in three flavours, available in 250ml cans, six-packs and 275 ml bottles. It is 100 per cent fruit juice, carbonated, and additive-free. Suso has the ability to extend and diversify, but today we have our hands full with what we have!

VI: What background research have you done into children's drinking habits and/or aspira­tions? Was any research carried out specifically relating to refreshment in schools?

SU: With the experience in the wider drinks market around the Suso table, a huge amount of Suso has been built on the intuition of individuals within the business. That said, the one area we did research extensively has been around taste. For without great taste and refreshment, Suso was never going to get off the ground. So we researched this aspect with groups of 16-25-year-olds in our early stages.

VI: How do you sell Suso in to schools or, for that matter, into vending operating companies?

SU: We run the entire operation out of our headquarters in Clapham, south London, with a sales team liaising directly with wholesalers supplying schools (national and regional), local education authorities, school buying groups and direct to the schools themselves. This personal touch is, I believe, key to instil the collective passion, drive and pride on the ground, and ensure optimum customer service. Our Sales Director currently manages our business with Selecta and one of our account team looks after our Revive, NVCS and Eagle Vending.

VI: Are you looking at branded machines?

SU: Not at the moment. We do not have that expertise or resource in our business and I am a big one for playing in position and to our strengths.

VI: How do you market the product to children to get them hooked on the ‘No Can't Do' philosophy?

SU: This is a huge part of what Suso is all about. It's not about getting anybody hooked on anything ... but, instead, inspiring, supporting and enabling our younger generation to be perhaps a little more positive than they might have been through embracing a ‘No can't do' attitude.

We do this through telling inspirational stories of No Can't Do achievement as we find them (and in some cases enable them to happen) and thereafter through supporting creative communities and projects nationwide. The evidence of this inspired creativity is accessible at www.suso.co.uk and particularly at The Suso Project (www.susoproject.com ), an online ideas and collaboration platform for young people - essentially a social network in the mould of Myspace and Facebook but in this case built for doing not just talking. Grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 are currently available at the site to help fund the development of the best ideas.

We believe that imagination, creativity and determination are powerful resources when you put them together and we wanted to put this to the test; to find new platforms to bring young people together, people with talent, ideas and drive to clash heads and create ideas. This is indirectly how we advertise our product but, assuming we build our sales base, we are then able to invest back into further developing and fuelling these platforms - this ahead of any self-serving traditional advertising. Encouraging and enabling creativity in our children is at the heart of the Suso brand vision.

VI: Is there anything specific to schools that, for example, teachers can link in to?

SU: At present, we are wary of bringing too much of the brand into schools, in that this has the potential to turn kids off - for obvious reasons. However, any parent or teacher visiting www.suso.co.uk will see the immediate educational value of the stories we are bringing to the table in an effort to promote creativity in children.

VI: Do you have any information from the soft drinks industry on current trends, and how is the ‘healthy drinks' sector performing overall?

SU: While are not a data-driven business, the macro trends are well known to us all. When, 12 months ago, we told family and friends that we were out to launch a new breed of fizzy drink, they were shocked.

Today, much of what we read suggests that health is falling down the UK consumer's agenda due to current economic pressures. For me, though, looking at the market as a consumer and buyer above all else, the health and enjoyment of my small son is everything. Sales of Suso to date are showing me that I am not alone in this regard.

VI: Do you think that the ‘good for you' message is starting (albeit slowly) to get through to secondary school children, making it less counter productive?

SU: There is no doubt that secondary school kids are less turned off by health messages than they once were. That said, they are always going to drink what they want, when they want, and a huge influencing factor here is the relevance and desirability that a brand will offer.

VI: Do you have a motivation package for vending operators and schools - i.e. can they both make money?!

SU: Absolutely. Suso has been built to work emotionally for our young consumers, functionally for parents (as in with no compromises around health) and commercially for our customers. Without being able to deliver the value to our customers, this would all end very quickly. I guess that the exciting thing for both vending operators and schools is the cash they can hope to generate with the kind of volumes we're seeing coming through in schools today - 70 cases a week in some!

VI: Do you have any success stories yet involving the drink in schools in tandem with the Suso philosophy?

SU: The best proof-point for us is the sales level. However, here is a testimonial prepared by one of our customers for the Manchester Evening News:

An innovative approach by the Catering Managers at Manchester Grammar School and Droylsden High School has given the students a welcome healthy choice. Linking in with the Government's ‘5 a day' programme and their guidelines for healthy eating in Schools, British success story suso have produced a sparkling fruit juice drink that is getting the thumbs up and the green light! Richard Palombella (Catering Manager at Manchester Grammar) confirmed: "We need healthy products that the students would pick up by choice; Suso is just the ticket". His sentiments were echoed by Fiona Tewson (Catering Manager at Droylsden High): "We've seen a fantastic response to Suso; our students simply love it". Managing Director of distributor Main Line Wholesalers, Cris Miles, commented: "We have strived for years to bring healthy products into the education sector, but on the whole customer reception has been luke­warm until suso came along, this is fantastic news for all concerned.

The good news doesn't stop there, Suso has a commitment to curriculum enhancement, and has set up the ‘Suso Project' that provides a netspace for creative ideas, with the added clout of £15,000 financial support for the best idea floated.

www.suso.co.uk

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