This year Ribena turns 70 - but it has little to celebrate. The blackcurrant drink's hold on its coveted roles as the drink of choice for mothers to give their children since World War II, and lunchbox favourite since its ready-to-drink incarnation in the 80s, has diminished over the past few years, with recent ACNielsen figures painting a bleak picture for the brand (see box).
Despite owner GlaxosmithKline (GSK) positioning it as a drink for adults and hiking its adspend by more than 拢4m since 2004 to 拢6.2m in 2006, the brand is suffering. Both its ready-to-drink and squash ranges are losing share in the grocery market (Marketing, 9 May).
There should be no excuses. The fruit-drink category is growing as consumers choose healthier options, and Ribena's heritage as a source of vitamin C should stand it in good stead.
Yet it is health claims that have hampered the brand. Between 2002 and 2004 Ribena faced a consumer backlash over its Toothkind sub-brand. GSK pushed the variant as being less harmful to children's teeth than other juice drinks, but the claim was rejected forcefully by the health and dental lobbies. The brand was later withdrawn along with Ribena Light in 2005, and GSK launched Ribena Really Light in their place last year.
More recently it was hit by a high-profile fiasco when two girls in New Zealand stumbled upon Ribena's lack of vitamin C during a school experiment. GSK was forced to admit it had made false claims about the level of the vitamin in its drink, which is expected by industry experts to have a detrimental effect on Ribena in the UK.
They claim GSK did not handle the PR crisis well, especially as questions over Ribena's vitamin C content have been raised in other markets, too. 'All claimed-health products rely on a halo and they have to be pretty angelic to maintain it, which Ribena hasn't been,' says David Goudge, managing director of agency Brand Development.
A further obstacle for Ribena is a shift in parents' behaviour toward giving their children 'healthier' drinks such as pure juice, smoothies or water.
GSK's attempts to counter this by broadening Ribena's appeal beyond the children's sector has been the right decision, according to Sheila Tarring, managing director of drinks brand Rubicon. 'It's impossible these days to market any juice drinks to children which aren't 100% juice, so repositioning was the only way forward for Ribena,' she says.
In January 2006 Ribena launched a Blueberry variant, aimed specifically at women, and at the start of this year the brand overhauled its packaging as part of its push toward older consumers. The fresh look, featuring countryside images, is a far cry from its cartoon blackcurrants of the 80s and is intended to appeal to an 18- to 30-year-old audience, according to Anne MacCaig, marketing category director at Ribena.
She denies that the repositioning is the result of mothers no longer considering the brand healthy enough for their children. 'There has been a shift in consumption because those generations that have grown up with the brand are now consuming it as adults,' she insists.
Yet this shift in focus may well result in the brand relying heavily on the impulse sector. 'If the repositioning is successful, market share may fall further in grocery, as the majority of supermarket shoppers are mothers purchasing for their families,' says Goudge.
In this case, the brand's ready-to-drink range will play a big part in its attempts at revival. 'The ready-to-drink sector is an area of focus for many manufacturers, so it would make sense that growth will occur here rather than in the squash sector, which is mature,' says a spokeswoman for ACNielsen.
Despite its recent misfortunes, many in the industry believe that if GSK chooses to sell Ribena, it will be snapped up by a private equity-backed consortium such as Premier Foods, which has been hastily buying up old brands and breathing new life into them.
Goudge agrees that Ribena, which sits alongside Lucozade and Horlicks in GSK's health stable, is an attractive proposition, although he believes its price may be too high. 'There were rumours Britvic might acquire it from former owner Beechams, but it wasn't prepared to pay the price,' he says. 'There are still rumours in the industry that it is on the market.'
Drinks experts are generally agreed that Ribena has not lost its way entirely, and by relaunching with a higher juice content, as rival Coca-Cola already has with the launch of its 100% juice Capri Sun in 2006, it can regain its share of the juice drinks market.
If GSK is to reformulate the Ribena range, it must tread carefully to avoid making any change so radical that it will alienate those consumers who grew up with its taste. Indeed, if it is to guarantee its future for another 70 years, the company must address negative consumer perceptions in a more pragmatic fashion than it has until now.
DATA FILE - RIBENA
Fruit-juice and juice-drink sales by retailer type
2006 2005 2003 2001 01-06
(pounds m) (pounds m) (pounds m) (pounds m) % ch
1 Grocery multiples 1213 1133 1020 897 35.2
2 Independents 136 127 117 101 34.7
3 Co-ops 131 124 113 93 40.9
4 Garage forecourts 43 40 35 29 48.3
5 Off-licences 3 3 3 5 -40.0
Others* 53 50 47 48 12.3
Total 1579 1477 1335 1173 34.6
Source: Mintel
*Including convenience stores, delicatessens, department stores
RIBENA ADSPEND
Spend (pounds)
2004 2,038,673
2005 6,084,135
2006 6,187,444
2007* 7,000,000
Source: Nielsen Media Research
*Estimated forecast
RIBENA BRAND VALUE - 拢150m in year to 21 Apr 07