The Impulse channel grew by 7% in value, reversing a -3% decline last year; while sales of soft drinks in on-premise held, growing by 1% in value to £2.8 billion. The foodservice channel reversed its 2009 decline, up 9.4% in value to £284m. The largest sub-category in total market, Cola grew substantially across all channels.

Murray Harris, Customer Management Director, commented: “2010 was another a tough year for UK consumers, but soft drinks remained resilient. Although people were watching their pounds, they were still willing to spend a comparatively small amount on a soft drink, whether it’s at the train station on the way to work or at their local retailer on the way home from school.

“The increase in ‘top up’ shopping and single serve soft drinks sales has been great news for convenience retailers after they endured a difficult 2009, but we’ve yet to see a similar turn-around in the on-premise channel.”

Workplace catering, the largest in the channel, increased by 9% in value, suggesting that more people were buying drinks during breaks or lunchtime rather than bringing them from home.

Simon Gray of Boost Drinks commented: "Sport and Energy continues to thrive in general and is the fastest growing in the soft drinks category. Currently at +12.3%, it has now secured its place as one of the most valuable sectors in the market. Mintel reports have also predicted that the Sport and Energy category will grow by 50% by 2015. "Boost is experiencing continued growth and is currently outperforming the dynamic energy drinks sector as a whole and annual sales are up 44% year on year," he said.

Boost has a wide range of energy boosting drinks available to broaden a vendor’s soft drink offer. In addition to its regular and well-known Energy drink, Boost also offers a Sugar-Free alternative and its latest edition, Boost Energy Cola - an energy drink with the much loved taste of cola, are all available in 250ml can and 500ml bottle formats. Boost has also recently launched its popular Boost Active glucose, available in original and orange flavours and Boost Sport isotonic available in orange and mixed berry flavours, in a handy 500ml bottle format.

Since their launch, Sales of Boost’s Sport and Active range have continued to perform well, with Boost Sport sales up by 238% and Boost Active Sales up by 195% on last year.

Promotional Activity

Leading UK soft drinks manufacturer Britvic has announced its biggest on-pack promotion, Reward Your Thirst, is back and better than ever. The latest wave of activity will see improved pack stand-out and stronger brand messaging for Britvic and PepsiCo UK’s leading on-the-go soft drink brands. During its July to August run, the promotion will offer consumers the chance to win £250 every hour.

Maximising the appeal of the promotion to consumers, ‘Reward Your Thirst’ will run across 440ml, 500ml & 600ml bottles of all variants of Pepsi, 7UP, Tango, Mountain Dew, Drench, Juicy Drench once again and, for the first time, Lipton Ice Tea. The cross brand soft drink promotion aims to drive distribution and generate sales opportunities for retailers.

Russell Goldman, Head of Marketing Activation, Britvic commented: “The first ‘Reward Your Thirst’ campaign was a huge success, bringing in an extra £2 million of sales to the category, and we expect this year’s promotion will be even bigger and better. Our consumers have told us what they want are cash prizes, so this time round we are offering the chance to win £250 every hour.

“Soft drinks make up a large part of sales in any on-the-go outlet and when the Reward Your Thirst is executed well it works harder for retailers and offers great sales opportunities. Each brand in the promotion is either a sub-category leader or driving growth within its sub-category and by offering a single promotion across these popular brands makes it easier for retailers to display something that appeals to a large number of their customers. Retailers should stock up on the ‘Reward Your Thirst’ range over the summer months to capitalise on the second burst of activity.”

Retailers can also expect an increased demand for Ribena, the leading juice drink brand from GlaxoSmithKline, this summer as the Ribena experiential tour heightens brand engagement and drives consumers in store. The exciting nationwide tour will allow the makers of Ribena to target more than a million consumers at strategic locations, and will also support the Ribena Summer Festival Tickets on-pack promotion. It will span nine weeks across the summer season, with the mobile ‘Berry Wagon’, branded bicycles and a themed picnic having made its first appearance on 7th July in London.

“This summer’s Ribena experiential tour has been designed to appeal to all of the Ribena core audiences, from young adults to mums and families,” explains Michael Walford, Ribena Senior Brand Manager, GlaxoSmithKline Nutritional Healthcare. “Our 2011 tour is our most strategic to date, with every venue carefully positioned near multiple points of sale. It will also be our first tour to include the full Ribena product range, incorporating all our ‘drink now’ and ‘take home’ variants. Retailers should stock up across the board ahead of what’s set to be a busy season.”

Education & Health

Talking exclusively to Vending International, Richard Cooke, Sales & Marketing Director, Calypso Soft Drinks gave us his view on the current market drivers: "At around £11bn, soft drinks is a massive market, offering attractive margins for the wholesale and vending companies.

"A resurgence in school vending machines is boosting the marketplace, offering a new range of healthy soft drink options for students.  Calypso has seen growth all over the UK for its juice based drinks and Fairtrade range of bottles (250ml and 500ml).

"Soft drinks also fare quite well in recession, especially those which offer real value for money, like Calypso products. Economic factors still loom large for most people, as consumers are still clearly worried about their disposable income and continue to tighten their belts on spending.  They are looking for value for money and good everyday deals when buying."

Calypso Soft Drinks has a wide selection of soft drinks which are ideally suited for vending, ranging from the highly successful Aquajuice Juicy water range, Fairtrade Pure Juices and new brand Rapidz - a refreshing and youthful sparkling juicy water drink.   Calypso’s portfolio of soft drinks is available in various sizes and formats including 200ml cartons and also a range of 330ml and 500ml bottles.

"We have seen first hand the power of connecting ‘sports with nutrition’ in schools.  Calypso launched its Sports Anywhere campaign to take alternative sports into schools and encourage active participation while promoting health messages.   Following on from taking ‘surfing’ into urban schools, Calypso is promoting a healthy lifestyle with its latest ‘Calypso Sports Anywhere’ Mountain Biking (MTB) Campaign which was officially launched in April.

Richard Cooke said: “This is a real partnership, with leading mountain bike brands and top riders such Neil Donoghue who have given up their time to get involved. There will be an on pack competition on our top juicy water brand Calypso AquaJuice to help extend its reach further”.

Britvic also put drench back on TV this May with a £2.5 million marketing push. The new TV adverts form part of drench’s new ‘smart hydration’ campaign that’s designed to get consumers to consider different and smarter ways to stay hydrated, and ultimately drive sales for retailers. Britvic is also offering consumers extra value for money by increasing the size of its juicy drench bottle by 13.5% at no extra cost for a limited period. The larger 500ml Juicy drench PET bottles are available now across the range’s Orange & Passionfruit, Cranberry & Raspberry and Blackcurrant & Apple flavours.

Helen Gorman, drench Brand Controller, Britvic, commented: “The ‘Smart Hydration’ campaign is part of a major change in the way we talk about the drench brand. We want to grow our audience from what has been more of a niche market to a much larger scale. When people pick up a soft drink on the go to hydrate themselves, we want juicy drench to be their first choice.

“Juicy drench is currently worth £13 million and growing by 43% year on year. The TV campaign will grow brand awareness even further, so retailers need to stock up to take advantage of this great sales opportunity.”

Flavoured Water

Soft drinks manufacturer Britvic and PepsiCo UK are re-launching their functional water brand, V Water, under the SoBe soft drinks brand. The new SoBe V Water range will consist of six flavours, each with a distinct benefit. The range is available now in selected grocery, convenience and independent outlets. The launch will drive sales in the Water Plus sub-category, which has grown year-on-year since 2004 and is now worth £164m*.

Jon Evans, Head of Seed Brands at Britvic, comments: “SoBe V Water offers consumers a great tasting low calorie drink with the added benefit of vitamins. Each individual flavour includes a mix of vitamins designed to suit every consumer, no matter their mood or need-state.

“Functional Water has been a star performer over the past year with sales of V Water growing by 152%, however, we believe there is even more room for growth. That is why we are investing £5m in marketing the new SoBe V Water range, which our research shows will help extend the appeal of the brand and help grow the category.”

Britvic and PepsiCo UK recently launched SoBe Pure Rush, a naturally energising caffeine drink available in 250ml cans, into BP forecourts and WH Smiths travel stores and number of urban cafés and delis.

Iced tea

San Benedetto has decided to expand their name and range in the UK by introducing their great tasting, refreshing range of healthy teas both in cans and PET. Green Tea, a healthy refreshing drink made with mineral water, is full of antioxidants so it not only tastes good, but is good for you too.

According to the British Soft Drinks Association, the consumption of soft drinks in the UK grew in 2010 by 4.1% in volume to reach 14,585 million litres. This is the fastest annual rate of growth in the last seven years, and is reported in “By popular demand”, the 2011 UK Soft Drinks Report published by the British Soft Drinks Association, with data from independent market analysts Zenith International. Bottled water consumption grew for the second successive year, to reach 2055 million litres. The consumption of carbonates increased by 4.9 per cent in volume with a retail value of £8,000 million. Dilutables volume grew by 4.5 per cent, to 3,500 million litres. Fruit juice and smoothies consumption grew by 3.1 per cent, with a retail value of £1,760 million. Still and juice drinks volume grew by 5.8 per cent, a seventh straight year of growth. Sports and energy drinks were the star performers, growing by 13.1 per cent and 12.8 per cent respectively.

Jill Ardagh, BSDA Director General, said: “The soft drinks industry is successful because it listens to its consumers and meets their needs.  Even in tough economic conditions, our industry can thrive because it is focussed on meeting popular demand.”

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