Halewood puts Faith in women’s soft drink

Halewood International is launching a carbonated wine-alternative into the market as it looks to grow the adult soft drinks sector.

Faith

The launch of Faith comes just weeks after the government announced plans to introduce a minimum price of 40p per unit of alcohol in a bid to tackle binge drinking.

Faith will target women aged between 25 and 45-years-old from a BC1C2 demographic. The launch will be supported with sampling, press and retail marketing activity.

The brand aims to re-engage women who may have left the adult soft drinks category due to a lack of choice and those who want an alternative to alcohol or caffeine in the late afternoons and early evening.

The adult soft drinks category, which includes brands such as Merrydown’s Shloer and Britvic’s J2O, grew in value 2.5% to more than £100m last year, according to IRI data for the week commencing 20 December 2011.

Richard Clark, director of innovation at Halewood International, told Marketing Week that he will define Faith’s success in a year’s time by how many major multiples it is stocked in and by how many of its target audience can recall the brand by name.

“Success for us is not just about stealing share, it’s about growing the adult soft drinks categories as a whole. The value of the category will increase as more brands become niche-marketed,” he adds.

Faith will come in three varieties: Faith White, blending Sauvignon Blanc grapes, elderflower and lemon; Faith Rose, which mixes Chardonnay grapes with cranberry and raspberry; and Faith Red, which combines plum and blackcurrant with Merlot grapes.

It will retail from £2.29 and will also be available in pubs and venues that serve food.

In 2010 Halewood launched Iron Press, “a soft drink for real men” into the market, claiming at the time that the brand represented a “major growth opportunity” because of increased awareness of responsible drinking and the reduction in the drink drive limit. The Iron Press brand is currently under review.

In the same year Halewood rival Carlsberg UK launched a female-focused spritzer drink called Eve, backed by a £3m marketing campaign fronted by Louise Redknapp. It is no longer available in the UK.

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