South African joint venture brandhouse, newly formed between Diageo, Heineken and Namibia Breweries, is notching up success in the local spirit-cooler sector through the recent launch of two South African-designed brand innovations — Smirnoff Triple Spin and Archers Aqua.
There have been many new additions to the spirit-cooler sector of the market in the past few years as liquor companies take advantage of rising consumer spending on spirits and the increasing popularity of ready-to-drink mixes.
Industry figures show that eight new products recently launched in the sector already account for about 20% of total sales.
Smirnoff Triple Spin — which has the world’s best-selling white spirit, Smirnoff vodka, at its core — was developed by a South African brand-innovation team in response to consumer demand for more options in the ready-to-drink product segment. According to brandhouse MD Simon Litherland, within the first week of trading, a record 57 800 cases of the drink were sold.
brandhouse has also given its popular Archers Aqua brand a makeover, reducing the sugar content and re-dressing the bottle with a fresh new design.
Litherland said the ready-to-drink sector has a large, loyal following and still offers a lot of room for growth.
“We know that there are consumers who are looking for an alternative to beer, but don’t like the currently available ready-to-drink products on the market,” he noted. “Smirnoff Triple Spin was developed to meet their needs.
“We’ve worked on the recipe to create a new flavour that’s currently not available in the spirit-cooler category. Smirnoff Triple Spin is not sweet and is clear, which makes it stand out in the category that is inundated with multicoloured spirit-cooler brands.”
Smirnoff’s innovative Smirnoff Spin still tops the charts ahead of other products in the sector. It was the most successful ready-to-drink product launched in South Africa when it first hit the market last year.
The company also reacted to research that showed consumers enjoyed the fresh, fruity taste of Archers Aqua but felt it was rather sweet compared with other ready-to-drink spirit coolers.
“We decided to give Archers Aqua a makeover, reducing the sugar content by up to 30% for more real refreshment,” added Litherland. “We’ve also given the curvaceous bottle a fresh new design to reflect the new product credentials and to ensure that Archers Aqua retains its status as the most glamorous spirit cooler around.
“We have kept what is great about the current Archers Aqua but improved it. The formulation still contains pure Archers Schnapps with the same crisp fruit flavours of the current range and has no artificial sweeteners.”
Litherland said that as a leader in the industry, the group recognises the importance of ongoing innovation around consumer trends. The ready-to-drink category continues to launch new lookalike products, giving consumers far more choice, but also creating confusion and churn.
“In this sector, consumers gravitate towards new products for their novelty and perceived fashionability in pack and flavour, and product lifecycles are short as brands lose consumer relevance. Through Smirnoff Triple Spin and Archers Aqua, we wanted to create a clear break from the rest of the pack,” he concluded. — I-Net Bridge