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Fortified Waters, Sports Drinks Show Greatest Decline

  • Ad Age, Thursday, March 25, 2010 10:47 AM
The beverage category declined 3.1% in volume in 2009 -- the second consecutive year it has dropped, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. data. Carbonated soft drinks only fell 2.3% in volume, Natalie Zmuda reports, which optimists might read as a more appealing result than the previous year's 3% decline.

Value-added water (-12.5%) and sports drinks (-12.3%) were hit the hardest. But PepsiCo's SoBe Lifewater brand jumped 63% on the strength of the SoBe Lifewater Zero launch, which uses the company's stevia-based PureVia sweetener. It's still a small player, Zmuda points out, but the growth indicates that consumers are looking for products they perceive as healthier.

"Not only have the carbonated soft drink bubbles been burst, so has the thirst for phony non-carbonated beverages been tapped out," comments a reader who identifies himself as McDonald & Little co-founder Mike McDonald. "The lack of sane marketing practice at both Coke and Pepsi for many years is the root cause of the industry's long decline." And a college student points out that re-usable bottles -- presumably filled with water or self-made concoctions -- are seeing increasing popularity with the environmentally conscious, particularly at campuses across the country.

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