Magazine: A world of new flavours

In 2015 carbonated soft drink sales kept growing. Coca-Cola Hungary’s communications director Valentin Tóth told our magazine that the importance of hypermarkets decreased a little in sales, while supermarkets and discount stores strengthened their position. The Horeca and petrol station sales channels developed well. Just like the whole of the FMCG market, the carbonated soft drink category is very much promotion-sensitive. Nikoletta Buzder-Lantos, marketing manager of Fővárosi Mineral Water and Soft Drink Zrt. opines that the cola market is dominated by top brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi, but among other carbonates soft drinks ‘B’ brands play a bigger role.

Adrienn Horváth, marketing manager of BUSZESZ Zrt. revealed that one of their surveys found: Hungarian consumers are price-sensitive and they have started to prefer healthier products. Ildikó Balogh, marketing manager of Fruitful-Company Kft. (Almdudler’s distributor) explained to us that their buyers are actively looking for opportunities to purchase in promotion. Tibor Pécskövi, managing director of Márka Soft Drink Kft. added that there are so many promotions that it is becoming increasingly difficult for products to stand out from the crowd and get noticed by consumers in-store.

József Nemes, sales director of Pet-Pack Industry and Trade Kft. informed us that the majority of sales is still realised by basic flavours. However, Eszter Beraki, brand manager of Maspex Olympos Kft. reckons that consumers are more and more open to special, exotic flavours and like to try new products. From BUSZESZ Zrt.’s products the sales of 2-litre and 2.5-litre soft drinks in PET bottle packaging keep increasing dynamically. According to the Fővárosi Mineral Water and Soft Drink Zrt. (Pepsi’s distributor), cola products are the engine of sales growth, realising half of carbonated soft drink sales in terms of volume.

Coca-Cola Hungary’s sales augmented by 3.8 percent in volume and grew 7.1 percent in value in 2015, making the company the market leader in both respects. Products include Coca-Cola, Coca-Coca Light, Coca-Coca Zero, NaturAqua mineral water, Nestea (made with stevia), Kinley, Cappy and Fanta Zero – almost half of these drinks are low- or zero-calorie. In January the company launched the ‘one brand’ strategy with their ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign. The new strategy focuses on consumption occasions and this is what gets communicated by television commercials.

Fővárosi Mineral Water and Soft Drink Zrt.’s Pepsi product is also available in sugar-free, zero-calorie and lemon-flavoured versions; Mirinda and 7up are the company’s other two carbonated soft drink brands. Brand communication is centred around Pepsi in the Hungarian market, with the UEFA Champions League in football playing an important role – Pepsi is one of the tournament’s main sponsors. This year the brand communicates a new marketing message, with the slogan ‘Life is a moment. Live it!’. Márka sales have improved significantly, thanks to the increased distribution and the company’s development work in the last few years. They were the first to start using natural colouring agents and since last year all of their fruit juice, flavoured water and iced tea products have been manufactured without using preservatives. This year Márka’s ambassador is Fanni Weisz, who can credibly communicate the brand’s health message. Since January 2016 Márka Soft Drink Kft. has been the distributor of VIWA vitamin waters.

Maspex Olympos Kft. have developed flavour combinations that are hardly known in the domestic market. The latest products have been put on the market just recently, under the Apenta RIO brand name, in passion fruit-jackfruit and acai-dragon fruit flavour combinations. Last year Maspex gave the Apenta Light product range a new design and they also launched the Apenta Light raspberry product. In 2015 Aquarius-Aqua Kft. and BUSZESZ Zrt. managed to expand by 20 percent in the carbonated soft drink category, by this acquiring a combined market share bigger than 10 percent. Sales of QUEEN products augmented by 26 percent last year. In 2016 two new products will come out in the QUEEN carbonated soft drink range: a zero-calorie cola drink and a new, low-calorie spring flavour with a touch of herb taste.

Fruitful-Company Kft. informed us that the demand for Almdudler products keeps growing and the company senses increasing interest in products offering special flavours. This spring the company starts selling Almdudler in 1.5-litre version. Orangina’s special-design 1.4-litre PET bottle will appear on the shelves of hypermarkets this spring; 0.5-litre Orangina will be available at petrol stations, in certain large floor-space stores and in some small independent shops. Almdudler is made from 32 natural Alpine herbs and mineral water – this is why it tastes so special. 80-year-old Orangina has always been produced using the same recipe and in the same high quality. As for the company’s communication strategy, this year the Almdudler brand is in the centre of attention.

Pet-Pack Industry and Trade Kft. manufactures the DEIT sugar-free soft drink. Sales of this didn’t really increase last year, but sales of the company’s flavoured waters grew considerably. In its innovation work Pet-Pack focuses on developing a higher-priced but healthier product as consumer demand is growing for sugar- and preservative-free soft drinks.