The battle of beverages heats up

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation

Since early March, eight beverage firms have set aside marketing budgets worth Bt300 million to launch new campaigns, products and packages. Three newcomers have also announced they are entering the arena.

Starting with the Bt7-billion fruit juice market, stiff competition is expected among new players while veteran manufacturers are expected to fight for market share.

San Miguel (Thailand), a giant from the Philippines, is launching a new fruit "mocktail" called "Oops! Mocktail".

It categorises the brand as a middle-end fruit-juice product, being 15-per-cent fruit based.

It will introduce four flavours: Blue Angel, Naïve Green, Orange Killer and Poison Rose.

The company will invest Bt70 million to build awareness among customers aged 13 to 25 in its first year of launch.

It aims to capture a 5 to 10-per-cent market share in the middle range market, which is thought to be worth Bt450 million.

TAC Beverage, a player in the green tea market with its Zenya brand, has launched a 20-per-cent fruit juice called HAP, which targets teenagers.

It has allocated Bt20 million to market it in the first year.

Launching the brand is not only a strategic play to tap health-conscious consumers but also to maintain a strong sustainable youth market.

TC Pharmaceutical Industry, a major player selling Red Bull energy drinks and Puriku white tea, will be launching a 15-per-cent orange juice drink called Fit For Fun at Bt15 a bottle.

The firm has imported machines from Germany to make the drink.

With the new competition, old players will need to work hard to fend off rivals.

Some players are trying to use a more creative approach.

Malee Sampran is launching Malee Juize Mix Cool Max as a cooling drink that uses fruit juices.

The brand has a 15-per-cent fruit blend and carries three flavours, Cooling Red, Cooling Blue and Cooling Orange.

It will target customers aged 15 to 25.

It has a marketing and advertising budget of Bt60 million.

The price per 350-ml bottle is Bt18. It is seeking to capture 11 per cent of the market or Bt1.3 billion in sales.

Tipco Foods (Thailand) will launch Tipco Cool Fit, which has less than 25-per-cent fruit juice content, starting with a lemon flavour drink.

It will also sell a PET bottle package. Formerly it only had UHT packages.

Its Bt10-million marketing budget will target convenient store and shops.

Pepsi-Cola (Thai) Trading will launch a new drink with returnable bottles for its lower-than-25-per cent orange juice called Twister.

Pepsi will sell Twister at Bt10 per bottle in a move to stimulate buying.

It will also use a new advertising campaign called Perfect Balance, which focuses on balancing sour with sweet products. Its ad campaign will cost Bt40 million.

Charlie Jitcharoongphorn, Pepsi's marketing director, said the firm

was already a major player in orange juice after entering the market two years ago.

It aims to expand its market share by using distribution arm Sermsuk to compete against Splash, which is backed by Coke.

In the Bt3.6-billion tea market, Oishi Group is planning a major campaign costing Bt100 million.

Tan Passakornatee, Oishi's CEO, said the market would continue to grow at about 20 per cent, but not as dramatically as in previous years.

TC Pharmaceutical, which makes Puriku, is working hard to keep its loyal customers by introducing a new drink called Puriku Fruit White Tea, which sells for just Bt12.

It will also use a special campaign to attract buyers with a special price of Bt10 per bottle. And customers can also exchange 10 caps of Puriku to obtain a free bottle from now until the end of the year.

It hopes the campaign will help it to grow to 15-per-cent of the market from its current 11 per cent.

The Bt22.5-billion cola market has also seen new campaigns by ThaiNamthip, a manufacturer and distributor of Coke.

It will try to attract buyers with its campaign that translates as "Coke caps turn 100 dreams into reality".

It will ask buyers to send caps of

Coke and all beverages by ThaiNam-thip Group for a chance to win 100

lucky draw prizes worth Bt100,000 each.

The campaign, running from now through June, is given a Bt30-million budget.