The Hindu Business Line : Dabur Foods bets on Real Twist for beverage business growth

New Delhi April 30 Dabur Foods, having recently forayed into the fruit drinks category within the juice market with its Real Twist brand, is all set to position the product as the growth driver for its beverage business.

"In the beverages business, with Real we have already captured the leadership position in the fruit juice segment with 57 per cent market share. But having observed the current consumer trends towards value for money, and preference for fruits drinks that are relatively cheaper than juices, we have decided to position our new brand Real Twist in the category as the growth driver for our beverages business," said Mr Sanjay Sharma, General Manager, Sales and Marketing, Dabur Foods.

The company has had to increase prices of its Real fruit juice variants by 4 per cent to the current retail price of Rs 72 per litre after raw material prices went up, he said.

The other major reason behind the decision to increase focus on Twist, said Mr Sharma, is "Currently, the fruit drinks market is single-handedly dominated by mango-based brands like Maaza and Slice. In foraying into the fruit drinks segment we also wanted to widen the offering to the consumers and therefore create a wider space for ourselves in the market."

Though, Real Twist will be offered in three different variants — apple, orange and pineapple — the common underlining component will continue to be mango.

Promotions

In fact, the company is not leaving any stones unturned either in the marketing/advertising section. "We are promoting Twist through all the medias, be it print, radio or television. Actually we are also doing a lot of below the line activities in an effort to reach out to the youth and teenagers who are our target audience for the brand. We plan to spend around 25 per cent of our total annual advertising budget of Rs 5 crore in promoting Twist," said Mr Sharma.

The fruit drinks market is around Rs 1,200 crore, currently growing at 28 per cent on a year-on-year basis, and Dabur Foods, hopes to capture 4-6 per cent market share with its Real Twist within the next two to three years.

Amongst the other beverage brands the company owns, Coolers, the summer brand, will also see some activity with the on set of the season, through attractive promotional offers and innovative advertising campaigns. The other brand that will see lots of activity happening will be Dabur's Activ.Dabur Foods, currently a Rs 350 crore company, hopes to achieve the Rs 500-crore mark by 2010, out of which its beverages business will be worth Rs 350 crore. While its Real brand will earn revenues worth Rs 250 crore, Twist and Active put together will achieve the over Rs 100-crore mark within the total foods business.