• Brandchannel, Monday, July 14, 2008 11:15 AM

Ocean Spray built its entire business around a single fruit, the cranberry. While it added grapefruit in 1976, the name "Ocean Spray" remains synonymous with cranberry, and it represents what has become a virtual cranberry monopoly. Ocean Spray is a cooperative owned by about 650 cranberry growers throughout North America (plus about 100 grapefruit growers).

The story begins with three cranberry growers from Massachusetts and New Jersey who wanted to expand the market for their crop. Ocean Spray's flagship product, Cranberry Juice Cocktail was introduced in 1930.

But it is continuous brand expansion that keeps Ocean Spray ahead of the game. In 1963, for example, Ocean Spray introduced "Cran-Apple," the industry's first blended juice drink. In 1993, "Craisins" Sweetened Dried Cranberries came to market. In every case, Ocean Spray has managed to find yet another creative way to package the cranberry. Along the way, it didn't hurt that the cranberry took on the aura of a "healthberry" as well.

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