Magazine: Brand building and product availability are the key concepts on the mineral water market

Szentkirályi Mineral Water Kft. told our magazine that the former lack of PET packaging material is now history, therefore packaging material prizes didn’t increase in the summer. Still, due to environmental considerations and the product fee to be paid, manufacturers’ goal is the further reduction of packaging material usage. The last summer was really warm and if the temperature goes above 30 degrees production suffers as the efficiency of machinery reduces. Adrienn Horváth, marketing manager with Aquarius-Aqua Kft. informed Trade magazine that despite the extremely hot weeks they were able to utilise their production capacity to the maximum. Thanks to this, 2012 was the first year that Aquarius-Aqua sold more than 450 million litres of mineral water. The volume share growth of private label and first price products seems to have come to a halt; private label products in the medium price category are losing market. The price level of mineral waters hasn’t changed for years. In the category brand building and product availability are of key importance: it is these factors that guarantee good long-term market performance, not constant price promotions – we learn from Éda Pogány, Coca-Cola Hungary’s communications director. According to Dr Nárcisz Csákabonyi is, managing director of Fonte Viva Kft. for them it is good news that the popularity of still mineral waters is growing, especially in the premium category, as their Fonte Verde can now show its excellent characteristics. They also manufacture private label products. Innovation-wise we can see that the main directions are cost-effective packaging solutions, exciting bottle shapes and content development. Szentkirályi Lemonade in special 0.5-litre bottles has been successfully introduced to the market. The company’s latest innovative product is AQUA ELIXIS, a carbonated soft drink made with 31 different herb extracts. Szentkirályi also keeps updating the design of its product labels and for bigger partners they offer the opportunity to display their logos or slogans on the label. For Fonte Viva Kft. new horizons of progress opened up with the strategic cooperation agreement they had signed with Sió-Eckes Kft. last year. In 2013 the focus is on increasing the distribution of Fonte Verde. In 2012 the company introduced the 2-litre version to the market. They use trade marketing tools for brand building and their cooperation with Sió-Eckes Kft. will also contribute to increasing the Fonte Verde brand’s in-store visibility. Aquarius-Aqua Kft. bottles two top quality waters in the same place, under the brand names Veritas Gold and Aquarius. In the summer of 2012 the latter got a new, more eco-friendly bottle and its label was redesigned. Veritas Gold is about to go through similar changes in the next few months, and new products will be launched as well, calling attention to the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle.