Ready to drink (RTD) brands, and particularlyspirit coolers, will again be the rage this summer. Clifford Roberts and Andrew Moth report.

Summer is out of the blocks as the most profitable period for ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages. Most marketing campaigns are locked onto portraying a fun and exciting image to the under-25 market and no other season offers the opportunities that summer does. Testimony to this is the rash of new brands, packs and variants appearing around October/November every year in the RTD sector which incorporates spirit coolers and alcoholic fruit beverages.

And surely the cash registers will jingle all the way again this year.

The past year's difficult trading environment is sure to have an effect on growth in the category but at least there has been growth and brand activity is vigorous. In addition, a great deal of focus being placed by companies on improving internal efficiencies to offset a weak rand and the tough conditions. Distell instituted a full market study to identify key market segments and has moved to tailoring its approach in order to meet the needs of the individual segments.

GuinnessUDV created RTD brands linked to established names in other categories. Marketing director Mike Joubert says much of the success of the new Archer's Aqua lies in consumer familiarity with Archer's Schnapps. Sales of Archer's Aqua, launched in October, are said to have exceeded optimistic expections.

The performance of RTDs overall has been such that volumes rose from 185-million litres in mid-2000 to 205-million litres this year with spirit coolers spearheading the growth with volumes going from one million to 4,5-million litres.

Some of the activity of established RTD brands includes:

• Hunter's, the leading brand in the RTD category and owned by Distell, has made marginal pack changes to refresh the 13-year-old brand. These include a move from amber glass to flint on Hunter's Gold, changes to the current body label, the addition of neck labels on the 340ml bottle packs, as well as the introduction of indexed shrink wrapping to enhance the visibility of the brand at store level.

• Esprit, another Distell brand and seventh on the leaderboard of top RTD brands, has changed from cans to glass and is now available in a 340ml clear glass bottle. Distell's RTD marketing manager Martin Scoble describes the new look as: "the season's ultimate accessory - it says you're hip, happening and ready to have fun".

• Tiffany's, the sparkling wine and fruit flavour drink in a 340ml glass bottle from Distell, has launched a second blackcurrant flavour as partner to the original Tiffany's Buck's Fizz and both appear in new packaging.

• Crown Premium Dry, a Distell brand launched in 1992, has also seen an addition under the Crown label - Crown Special Dry. Even drier than the original, it is available in green 340ml packaging.

Another new dry variant is Bernini Dry, an addition to Distell's Bernini range. Bernini Dry was launched to cater for consumers wanting a drier taste with the light grape flavour of the original product.

Bacardi Breezer, a brand co-managed by Bacardi and Distell, has launched a sixth flavour variant - Bacardi Breezer Peach. Bacardi Breezer is listed as the most advertised RTD brand for the 12 months to April 2001 and is 5th across all brands having spent just under R9,5-million in that period.

Launched by SAB in May this year, a second variant was added to Redd's. Redd's Dry was made available in the same packs as Redd's Premium Cold - cans and bottles and the 660ml bottle.

Hooper's Hooch, a brand managed by DGB, has also undergone a pack change and is available in six flavours.
Where new brands are concerned, some of the more recent launches include:

Archer's Aqua in four fruit flavours is a smart bottle that any 20-year-old will be proud to hold. GuinnessUDV feels the brand is capable of the same success as Smirnoff Ice, which appears to have been on the market for ever but is in fact just 18 months old.

Referring to the most recent industry statistics, GuinnessUDV MD Gary May says Smirnoff Ice has become "the biggest non-beer alcoholic long drink on the SA market". Trends already visible with Archer's Aqua show the cran-berry and peach flavours as popular amongst 18 to 24-year-old consumers while the age group 25-plus market prefers the lime and orange flavours, which are drier.

Bulmers, the company that owns numerous cider brands in SA, launched vodka and lemon spirit cooler Zólensky Ice in March this year. More recently, the company launched Tattoo - a vodka and cranberry spirit cooler.

Halewood Breweries SA launched a spirit cooler range to complement its Red Square Energiser product. This consists of four flavours marketed under the Red Square brand: Cranberry, Blueberry, Lime and Iron Brew.

In the face of dwindling volumes in the sparkling wine category, Distell has introduced a new RTD brand in the market under its JC Le Roux badge. Described as being "at the forefront of tipple chic", JC is sparkling wine in a 187ml blue bottle complete with its own straw.

Smirnoff Ice has just become "the biggest non-beer alcoholic long drink on the SA market".