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Britvic’s marketing chief Andrew Marsden this week attacked Sunny

Delight as ’fundamentally flawed’ as Britvic announced an pounds 8m

launch of rival drink brand, Juice Up.

The soft drinks company hopes to capitalise on the negative publicity

surrounding Sunny Delight’s sugar content.

Marsden describes Juice Up as Britvic’s biggest launch since Pepsi Max

in 1993. He said: ’The category should have been like this to start

with.

We began the project because Sunny Delight’s concept is fundamentally

flawed - they promised something they couldn’t deliver and now they’ve

been found out.’

The Britvic product, which comes in three flavours - Smooth Orange,

Sunshine Tropical and Cool Berry, will sit beside Sunny Delight in

chiller cabinets.

It contains calcium and six vitamins, has 17% fruit-juice content

against Sunny Delight’s 5%, and 4.6g of sugar compared with Sunny

Delight’s 14g (equivalent to 3.5 teaspoons per 200ml).

Advertising, which is through HHCL & Partners, will begin in a month to

support the brand, with a dual strategy that targets mothers, through

health-focused press ads, and kids through image-based youth media

ads.

The announcement comes in the same week that Procter & Gamble confirmed

plans to launch a new lower-sugar version of Sunny Delight.

Light Sunny Delight will contain a tenth of the sugar content of regular

Sunny Delight, with twice the fruit juice content.

John Bennett, P&G food and beverages marketing director, said that while

the basic Sunny Delight positioning will not change, this is a ’light

variant to give British mums a choice’. He expected the new brand to

take up about 40% of the main brand’s business eventually.

’We’re confident that offering Sunny Delight in a low-sugar formula will

be welcomed by many parents,’ said Bennett.