Adding fresh fizz to Frooti

Will Frooti Fizz help bring back the excitement around the 32-year-old master brand?

Extension of an established master brand is never easy. Experts reckon there is a 70 per cent chance that a new launch will fail to live up to expectations and help the parent company expand into a new category. But that hasn’t stopped brands from trying to stretch the equity of a well-known brand. One player that has taken that risk in recent weeks is Parle Agro. The fast-moving consumer goods company has launched Frooti Fizz, a fizzy version of category leader Frooti. This is the first brand extension of the popular mango drink Frooti in 32 years. The objective of the launch is two-fold, says the company: It will help Frooti consolidate its position in the fast growing fruit-based drinks market, and two, it will help the company diversify its beverage product portfolio thus reducing its revenue dependence on a single beverage brand Frooti.
 
Interestingly, Parle Agro already has a strong presence in the fruit-based fizzy drink category with a flagship product in Appy Fizz. Launched in 2005, Appy Fizz has been witnessing 25 per cent growth year-on-year.
 
“Appy Fizz started off as a niche category 10 years back. Today, it has gone mainstream establishing sparkling fruit beverage as an altogether new beverage category. Frooti Fizz is an attempt at extending our sparkling fruit drink portfolio,” says Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and chief marketing officer, Parle Agro.
 
She adds, “At 90 per cent, mango continues to be India’s largest consumed fruit flavour. Therefore, extending Frooti into a fizzy fruit drink will be a powerful brand proposition.”
 
With a large number of consumers increasingly moving away from carbonated and synthetic drinks and going in for fruit-based natural products, Parle Agro sees a lot of potential in fruit-based drinks in the fizz category.
 
Reportedly, in 2015 the juices category posted a volume growth of 20.06 per cent and a value growth of 25.78 per cent over the previous year. Fizzy drinks, in the same period, grew 8.42 per cent by volume and 10.82 per cent by value, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.

 
With the launch of Frooti Fizz, Parle Agro is looking at expanding its fruit juice-based Fizz portfolio from Rs 600 crore to Rs 4,000 crore by 2022. Currently, Appy Fizz is a Rs 600-crore brand.
 
Parle Agro has upgraded its manufacturing infrastructure for the production of Frooti Fizz and existing beverages. It will be producing the beverage at its new facilities located at Sitarganj, Uttarakhand, along with the manufacturing facilities in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana.
 
Frooti Fizz will be available pan-India. It is priced at Rs 15 for 250ml PET, Rs 30 for 500ml PET and Rs 25 for 250ml cans. On the marketing front, Parle Agro has earmarked Rs 200 crore for promoting its various brands including Frooti Fizz.
 
The launch of Frooti Fizz also reflects Parle Agro’s concentrated efforts to diversify its beverage portfolio and significantly reduce its revenue dependence on a single beverage brand Frooti. Way back in 2005, Frooti accounted for 92 per cent of Parle Agro’s total sales. Cut to 2016-17, Frooti makes up for 60 per cent of the company’s total sales.
 
In contrast, the share of fruit-based fizz drinks to the company’s overall sales has been increasing steadily. From eight per cent sales share in 2005, Appy Classic and Appy Fizz currently account for 24 per cent of the sales for Parle Agro.
 
Over the years, Parle Agro has been cautious in expanding and diversifying its product portfolio. Each and every new launch has to tick the right box with the product being a first of its kind in the market. With every new product line, the idea is to create a new category. Such an objective calls for a slow and steady approach towards brand extension.
 
“We are for healthy diversification. Every new launch including Frooti Fizz is aimed at driving greater and new consumer acquisition. There is a distinct product differentiation with each of the launches. For example, Frooti is aimed at a younger audience, Frooti Fizz is for 18-year-olds and upwards,” says Nadia.
 
She asserts that Parle Agro is in the game for the long term and is focused on getting the sequence and the timing right with each launch.