Soft drinks have traditionally targeted children and teens but, as adults seek out healthier options and alcohol substitutes, a category targeting them has emerged. Encompassing products such as flavoured waters, upmarket fruit juices and iced tea, many are marketed as premium drinks - a positioning that has boosted growth in this sector.
However, while these new products boosted the total adult soft-drinks market by 6% in both value and volume sales in 2006, according to ACNielsen, Appletiser lost out. The drink suffered a 9% slump in volume share of the total adult soft-drinks market and an 11% drop within grocery for the year to 16 June, as it declined by 6.9% in total volume sales and 7.6% within grocery.
Appletiser's biggest challenge is its market positioning. Launched in the UK in 1982, the drink is traditionally seen as a premium adult soft drink more often consumed in the on-trade than at home.
In 2003, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), which distributes the brand in the UK, channelled 拢5m into a high-profile relaunch to target women and drive take-home sales.
The relaunch saw the drink make a return to TV for the first time in six years. The ads depicted sensual young women in post-Appletiser moments, under the strapline 'Appletiser... a moment of pure pleasure'. CCE also introduced six-packs of 330ml cans, as well as glass bottles.
In 2005, Appletiser signed a 拢1m deal to sponsor Friends repeats across Channel 4, E4 and E4+1 and ran an on-pack promotion offering the chance to win 拢50,000-worth of designer diamond jewellery to further sales among 25-to 34-year-old women. But the brand has received little promotional support since, and the strategy has not visibly improved performance.
CCE extended the brand in March with the addition of pear-juice drink Peartiser. It assumed Appletiser's sponsorship of Friends, and creative positioned the range as an adult alternative to alcohol. It is too soon to tell whether the extension will be a success - or whether it will cannibalise Appletiser sales, weakening it further.
So, what can Appletiser do to revive its flagging fortunes? We asked Steve Cooper, marketing director at Feel Good Drinks, and Pete Edwards, partner at communications planning agency edwardsgroom&saunders, whose FMCG clients include New Covent Garden Food Company.
DIAGNOSIS 1 - STEVE COOPER, MARKETING DIRECTOR, FEEL GOOD DRINKS
Appletiser has a lot of positives; most importantly, it tastes pretty good and doesn't contain any artificial ingredients or added sugar.
In addition, the brand's packaging is distinctive and, as a glass bottle, is more environmentally friendly than most. The brand also has good awareness levels and it does not really have too many direct competitors. So what's the problem?
For me, the answer lies in the question 'who drinks Appletiser?' It feels a bit like a brand that your mum would buy, but I'm not actually sure that she does.
Appletiser feels very grown-up and serious and has been around for quite a while, yet I suspect most people haven't really got to know it that well.
The adult soft-drinks category is growing as a result of younger adults trading up to better-quality, healthier drinks. They want brands to which they can relate and I think that for many, Appletiser feels less relevant and a little lacking in personality compared with its rivals in this dynamic category.
REMEDY
- Create a distinctive voice; sponsoring Friends is fine, but doesn't help consumers get to know the brand.
- Tell people about the sort of apples used in Appletiser's production and their provenance. This underlines its quality and adds personality to the brand.
- Extensions such as Peartiser are not the answer; they add to the confusion and are not the sort of flavours younger adults are looking for.
DIAGNOSIS 2 - PETE EDWARDS, PARTNER, EDWARDSGROOM&SAUNDERS
Most of us will have drunk Appletiser at some time, but if you are like me, you will have forgotten why, and whether you even liked it.
This is the brand's problem. Its competitors have greater visibility and behave in a more interesting way, giving clear reasons to like them and motivating suggestions for use.
Coca-Cola Enterprises is evidently disinvesting in the brand, and distribution seems under pressure, but it's not simply a declining salience that is making life difficult. Appletiser's insipid personality lacks relevance with its target female audience. Where's the joie de vivre?
The brand's on-air presence seems only to support this morbidity. As arresting as a community police officer, the Friends idents ooze blandness and the show itself is a declining franchise, reaffirming past, rather than embracing future.
There is scope to set up an indulgent proposition, or tap into the health zeitgeist with a 'natural' and 'purity' proposition, in a jaunty, modern tone of voice. At present it is in a dangerous middle ground.
REMEDY
- Decide if the brand really deserves support. If it does, create a modern and compelling personality; define what Appletiser stands for and tell people.
- Apply this contemporary feel to the brand, across language, packaging and behaviour, and have a bit of fun. Lose the earnestness.
- Focus hard on the target audience and imply consumption occasions in communication and through on-trade experience.