Ribena introduces new carbonated range

Leading juice drink brand Ribena has expanded to the flavoured carbonates category, launching the new Ribena Sparkling range.

Available now in two flavours, Blackcurrant and Raspberry, across three formats, the product is designed to sit alongside retailers’ flavoured carbonates range in the chiller – separately from Ribena’s core juice drinks.

“Flavoured carbonates have seen amazing growth of 7.1 per cent recently [IRI], and they also have one of the highest penetrations of any soft drink category at 81 per cent [Mintel]. Four out of five of those buyers consume flavoured carbs at least once a week,” said Charlotte Flook, head of brand for Ribena at Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I.

“Blackcurrant is the seventh biggest soft drinks flavour and there is only one other mainstream raspberry-flavoured fizzy drink offering in the market. We also know that blackcurrant and raspberry flavours are 33 per cent and 61 per cent incremental to the category respectively [IRI], which demonstrates the opportunity the new drinks can offer retailers in terms of additional sales.”

Ribena Sparkling Blackcurrant comes in 500ml, 2L and 6x330ml multipack cans, while Ribena Sparkling Raspberry is available in 500ml and 2L formats.

The brand said the range of formats addresses the increasing number of occasions when shoppers are looking for carbonated soft drink as in-home occasions for carbonated soft drinks have grown 40 per cent during the Covid-19 lockdown period [IRI].

“More than a third of consumers are interested in added vitamins in their fizzy drinks [Mintel], making Ribena the ideal solution for those shoppers. In fact, the brand has already been delivering on great taste with Vitamin C since 1938. We know that during the Covid-19 lockdown period, 42% of shoppers purchased products they hadn’t bought before – so retailers can really excite their customers by introducing an already strong brand into a new category, in new formats,” Flook added.

The launch of Ribena Sparkling will be supported by an extensive shopper activation, out-of-home and digital and social media campaign.

The Ribena brand is also offering retailers an exclusive reward which can be claimed through the Shopt app, available from 29 September until 27 October.

PMPs are available on both the 500ml and 2L formats. The 500ml PET bottles are priced in line with existing Ribena SKUs, at £1.09 or 2-for-£2, while the 2L bottles will be price-marked at £1.79.