P&G starts test for second soft drink in UK

Procter & Gamble is marketing a vitamin-enriched soft drink in the UK called Sunny Delight, which joins its other soft drink, Punica, on test in the North.

Procter & Gamble is marketing a vitamin-enriched soft drink in the UK called Sunny Delight, which joins its other soft drink, Punica, on test in the North.

Sunny Delight will be on test in the Carlisle region from next week. It is available in two flavours and will be sold in the chiller section of stores. The two orange flavours are California Style and Florida Citrus Punch. All flavours contain vitamin B1, C and D.

Sunny Delight is the leading refrigerated juice drink in the US with sales approaching $300m (192m) a year. The drink is also on sale in Canada and Mexico. Sunny Delight volume sales have tripled since P&G acquired the brand in 1989.

P&G has not appointed an advertising agency to develop commercials for the brand and says it will use ads developed in the US.

Punica, a range of fruit juice-based drinks, comes in four flavours – multi-fruit with vitamins; orange with calcium and vitamin C; apple with calcium and vitamin C; and pineapple and grapefruit with vitamin C.

The drinks will be test marketed in the Grimsby/ Cleethorpes region as revealed in Marketing Week at the start of the year (MW January 5). The company appointed advertising agency Mellors Reay & Partners to handle the account.

P&G faces strong competition in the fruit drinks market with Coca-Cola’s Fruitopia range and Quaker’s Snapple.