Magazine: Positive perspectives for energy drinks

After the superb 2011 performance 2012 brought a two-digit decline in sales – mainly as a result of the introduction of public health product tax (NETA). The good news is that last year the decline came to a halt. Tamás Jenei, director of commerce with HELL ENERGY Magyarország Kft. told us that this performance was primarily the outcome of innovation. He also observed a cleaning process in the energy drink market, many brands practically disappeared from store shelves. Last year when the NETA regulation entered into force Hell was one of the first to declare that they would continue to manufacture energy drinks (some manufacturers changed the recipes so that their products wouldn’t classify as energy drinks, in order to pay less public health product in tax). Adrienn Horváth, marketing manager of WATT manufacturer BUSZESZ Zrt. informed Trade magazine that they back the government’s efforts to keep Hungarians healthy. This is the reason why they started to manufacture products after recipes based on vegetable extracts. Packaging-wise there was no change, the 0.25-litre can remained dominant, but family-size products were able to set their feet in the market. As for flavour combinations, many manufacturers came out with new, mostly fruit-flavoured products – we learned from Éda Pogány, Coca-Cola Hungary’s communications director. Her opinion is that young consumers are open to new flavours and colours, and limited edition products can also cause excitement in the category. Market leader HELL is building a worldwide brand, they export to 30 countries and would like to conquer more, for instance Scandinavia. In Hungary they now set their eyes on the Horeca segment as they already dominate retail. Since the main target group is young consumers, innovation is key as this is a category where a product can’t remain the same for 20 years. BUSZESZ Zrt. is market leader in terms of volume distributed. They also favour innovation, for instance they were the first in Hungary to launch an energy drink made from natural ingredients – WATT Natura hit the shops in 2008. This April they come out with a so-called double experience to prepare consumers for the summer. WATT’s main target group is also young people and the company tries to keep them interested in their products by offering constant good quality paired with something unexpected – a new flavour, design or face in advertising. Coca-Cola Hungary’s view is that social media is the best tool when it comes to brand and loyalty building, so they decided to go down this path with their Burn and Monster brands.