Drink!: New Beverages Join the Coke-Pepsi Wars

By Karen Herzog, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jun. 7–Chicago — America is changing the way it quenches its collective thirst, increasingly turning away from sugary sodas in favor of bottled waters, fruit beverages, sports drinks and energy drinks.

A deal announced last month that ends sales of sugary sodas in most public schools within four years in an effort to curb childhood obesity is bound to drive that trend even more, according to Gary Hemphill, managing director for Beverage Marketing Corp. in New York, which tracks the beverage industry.

Yet the nation’s largest carbonated beverage companies, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, will continue to rule the marketplace, Hemphill said.

That’s partly because those companies own the top brands in competing categories. Coca-Cola owns Minute Maid juice (the No. 7 selling beverage) and Dasani bottled water (No. 10). PepsiCo owns Gatorade sports drink (No. 6), Tropicana juices (No. 8) and Aquafina bottled water (No. 9).

The race to quench America’s thirst without widening its collective waist line visually unfolded at the Food Marketing Institute’s annual supermarket trade show here last month. Coca-Cola and Pepsico were out front, as usual, but they were showcasing their newer alternative beverages, not their longtime bestsellers.

Sodas continue to be the top selling beverages — Coca-Cola is No. 1, followed by Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper and Sprite. But the fastest-growing brands are Aquafina, Gatorade, Tropicana and Dasani. Those brands all posted double-digit growth last year, while the soda leaders had flat sales, according to Beverage Marketing Corp.

“I think it’s important to keep in mind America is still a nation of carbonated soft drinkers by a more than 2-to-1 margin over bottled water,” Hemphill said. “But bottled water is growing so much faster than carbonated soft drinks. The fastest-growing products are ones people view as healthier or better for you.”

This trend could put bottled water sales ahead of soda within 10 years, Hemphill said.

The latest beverages unveiled or showcased at the supermarket industry’s trade reflect an emphasis on innovation and “health.” Many of the flavored drinks are sweetened with sucralose (Splenda). Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola “realize people want variety,” Hemphill said.

Many of these drinks already are available in stores.

What’s new in bottled waters?

— Spearmint water by Metromint, an unsweetened mint water, features “real mint grown in Washington’s Yakima Valley.” That’s it. No sweeteners. No calories.

It helps freshen your breath, settle your stomach and even fight stress, according to sales literature. (Eastern philosophy says scattering mint around your house is “a time-honored way to bring peace after an argument.”) The sleek 500-ml bottles sell for $1.39 to $1.99.

— Wateroos puts purified and flavored waters in aseptic boxes with attached straws (think juice boxes). Aiming the product at children ages 1 to 6, Maddie’s Beverage Co. offers six packs of 8-ounce Wateroos with a suggested retail price of $3.29.

— Remember Fizzies? They’re back. The fruit-flavored, effervescent drink of the ’50s and ’60s has returned. Just drop the tablet (sweetened with sucralose) into water, and watch it fizz like an Alka-Seltzer into brightly colored, flavored waters: lemon lime, cherry, orange, fruit punch, root beer and sour apple. Meets daily vitamin C requirements with a suggested retail price of $2.99 for 8 tablets.

— Crayola Color Coolerz offers brightly colored bottled water that is sweetened with no-calorie sucralose, instead of sugar or corn syrup. Advanced H2O is paying Crayola to use its logo. The company plans to sell Berry Blue, Wild Strawberry, Screamin’ Green and Purple Pizzazz in eight-packs of kid-size 8-ounce bottles retailing for about $2.99.

— Ice Mountain natural spring water by Nestle Waters puts a new twist on 8-ounce bottles with added fluoride. The non-removable cap twists open, not off. Sold in 8-packs with a suggested retail price of $2.99.

— Icelandic Glacial — spring water “exclusively bottled at a remote source in Iceland” — makes its American debut at Super Target stores in half-liter six-packs with a suggested retail price of $5.49. The plastic bottle is sculpted to resemble a glacier.

— Coca-Cola’s Dasani adds fizz, sucralose sweetener and natural fruit flavors to water to create Dasani Sensations in two flavors — mixed berry and lemon-lime, available in 20-ounce bottles. The suggested retail price was unavailable.

— Kraft’s Capri Sun Roarin’ Waters is another new fruit-flavored water, specifically designed for kids, with 35 calories per serving. It’s sweetened with sucralose but has no artificial colors or flavorings. Flavors include strawberry kiwi, tropical fruit and wild cherry. Suggested retail price for a 10-pack is $2.99.

Fruit beverages: smooth, nutritious twists

Prices were not available on most of these drinks.

— Minute Maid, owned by Coca-Cola, is aiming for school vending machines with new 10-ounce Minute Maid Juices to Go. Three 100% juice flavors will be sold in the new bottle size (which replaces a 12-ounce bottle): Orange Juice, Apple Juice and Mixed Berry.

— Waddajuice is a new line of low-sugar fruit juices for kids. It touts 50% less sugar than other whole juices, fewer carbohydrates and 100% of the daily vitamin C requirement in an 8-ounce spill-proof bottle (with a valve built into the cap). Flavors include Apple, Wild Berry and White Grape. Suggested retail is $1.49.

— Tropicana offers Fruit Smoothies in 11-ounce bottles, counting the same as 2½ servings of fruit to help meet the daily fruit requirement. This is a fruit juice and fruit puree drink now available in stores in three flavors: Mixed Berry, Strawberry-Banana and Tropical Fruit.

— Sunkist adds a Lemon Ice Smoothie Mix in a 2-ounce foil pouch to its line of smoothies, which includes “real fresh fruit” and 25% less sugar than “other leading ready-to-drink smoothies.” The product is due in stores any day.

— Naked Juice 100% juice smoothies offer an “all-natural” energy drink spin. Noting the energy drink category is now a $991 million category (according to Beverage World magazine), Naked offers Strawberry Kiwi Kick and Orange Mango Motion with 43mg of caffeine per serving from green tea extract and guarani. (A 16-ounce cup of Starbucks regular coffee is 259.3 mg of caffeine and an 8-ounce Red Bull energy drink is 80 mg.) The 15.2-ounce bottles do not contain added sugar, preservatives “or other artificial ingredients common in most commercial energy products.”

— This drink is technically in the tea category, but it’s fruity, too. Snapple White Teas is a collection of white teas with light fruit essences, including nectarine, green apple and raspberry flavors.

Got milk?

— The nearly $1 billion flavored milk-based category (according to Beverage Industry magazine) is gaining momentum in schools. Bravo! Foods last year signed an exclusive 10-year distribution agreement for Coca-Cola to distribute its Slammers 2% flavored milks nationwide in 3 Musketeers, Starburst and Milky Way flavors. Snickers will launch this summer. Suggested retail price is $1.19 to $1.69.

Bravo! Blenders is the latest product in the company line, aimed at working moms on the go, with a suggested retail price of $1.49. These low-fat milk beverages come in vanilla peach, chocolate raspberry, double French vanilla and double chocolate.

— Milk goes fizzy with Kool Cow, a bubbly strawberry or sparkling peach mango drink that comes in 8.5-ounce cans and 16.9-ounce shelf-stable bottles. It’s sugar-free, fat-free, caffeine-free and vitamin-enriched. The six-pack of 8.5-ounce cans retails for about $3.99, and the 16.9-ounce bottles are about $1.29.

— For those who prefer soy, General Mills has 8th Continent Refreshers, a blend of juice and soy in strawberry-banana and orange-pineapple-banana flavors. A 48-ounce bottle retails for about $3.27.

— Sipahh from Australia is a transparent milk straw that contains dozens of flavored tapioca granules. Plain milk becomes flavored when milk is sucked through the straw and flows through the granules. The granules, which come in several flavors, contain less than ½ teaspoon of sugar. They’re designed to encourage kids to drink more milk and get their daily requirement of calcium.

Nutrisoda?

— Airforce Nutrisodas are billed as carbonated, nutrient-enhanced sodas. No sugar, no calories, no sodium, no caffeine, no fat. Sweetened with sucralose. It’s a combination of natural fruit flavors, natural colors and filtered water with catchy names such as Radiant, Immune, Focus, Flex, Energize, Calm and Slender.

Coffee, anyone?

Ready-to-drink coffee beverages are hot, hot, hot, even when they are cold.

— Coca-Cola is launching a new line of indulgence called Godiva Belgian Blends sold in “stylish” 9.5-ounce glass bottles. Suggested retail price for singles is $1.49 to $1.89. The national roll-out, beginning at the end of July, will feature three flavors: Dark Chocolate Mocha, Milk Chocolate Mocha and French Vanilla Latte.

— Coca-Cola’s Blak, already in some stores, is a “carbonated fusion beverage” mixing soda and coffee.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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