Friday, January 23, 2009

Saint Juice : 100 % Juice , Nothing else

Brand : Saint Juice
Company : Parle Agro
Agency : Creativeland Asia

Brand Analysis Count : 374

Saint Juice is the new entrant to the fast growing fruit juice market.The brand is making a foray into a market which is highly segmented and often highly confusing (to the consumer) .
Indian beverages industry which is worth Rs 7000 crore is divided broadly into carbonated and non-carbonated categories.

The fruit based drinks market is highly confusing for a customer . Frooti, Tropicana, Maaza, Real etc are all fruit based beverages. Some tastes good and some not so good.

If you look at the products, there are different types of fruit beverages :

Fruit Drinks : These are those drinks where there is a less than 20% fruit pulp.
Frooti ,Maaza etc belong to this category. Fruit drinks is the dominant category which is worth around 250-300 crores

Fruit Nectar : These contains less around 25- 85% fruit pulp. Brands like Godrej Xs and Real Nectar belongs to this category. This is a small category worth around Rs 35 crore.

Fruit Juice : These are fruit beverages that contain 85% and more fruit pulp. Tropicana and Real belongs to this category. This category is worth Rs 150 crore.

With in the Fruit Juices segment , a new category is emerging which is the 100% juice category.
( A nice article on this here : afaqs )

Most consumers are not aware of this micro segmentation. Those who drink Frooti or Maaza does not know or is not bothered about the fruit pulp content. The reason is that ,they drink these beverages for the taste ( and quenching thirst ).

Unlike the fruit drinks , customers of fruit juices are health conscious. One of the reasons for them taking this product category is that they want a healthy drink. The product is more of a health supplement than a beverage. The fact that these products are less tasty compared to fruit drink is a proof that only the health conscious ones will take it.

The category of fruit juices are dominated by Dabur's Real and Pepsi's Tropicana. Real is the market leader with around 55 - 60% share and Tropicana takes the rest.

Saint Juice is a 100 % fruit juice. The brand is positioned as a 100 % juice. This positioning is relevant because consumers are confused about the category. I tend to believe that Real and Tropicana was 100 % juice. But later only I found that these were not.

In such a scenario, Saint Juice's positioning of 100% fruit juice makes sense for the consumers. As of now , the brand is very clear about the positioning. Another factor that appealed to me about Saint Juice is its minimalistic design. The packaging is uncluttered and very visible on supermarket shelf.

The brand is now being promoted in print media and inside stores. The brand has taken the tagline " 100 % Juice , Nothing else ". The message is Simple and straight forward. The name Saint has been chosen in line with the brand's core promise.


The 100 % juice positioning of Saint is a real threat to Real and Tropicana. Real and Tropicana had extended itself into fruit drinks and fruit nectar categories. Real have Real Twist and Tropicana have Twirl in the fruit drinks category. Both these brands have their nectar variants. Recently Real and Tropicana launched their 100 % juice variant. This is a typical case where a brand is trying to be everything to everybody.

As a ordinary person, my perception of Real and Tropicana was that it was a fruit Juice brand. Now they have diluted their core proposition for a larger market play.

There are ofcourse hurdles for Saint Juice. While proclaiming that the brand is 100% juice, it may also have to convince the customers that its competitors are not having 100 % juice . Since the customers are already confused, 100% juice positioning will be relevant to them only if consumer doubt other brands. Real has identified this threat and has rejuvenated Real Active as a 100% juice brand .

The current positioning of Saint Juice is targeting the consumer who is actively looking for a 100% juice. These are consumers who take juice as a part of their diet and also knows the difference between various fruit drinks and doesn't bother much about the taste. But the category is very small .

The larger category belongs to those who like taste but wants to have a healthy fruit juice. This is the category which has large number of customers. Here taste is a significant attribute. Customers in this segment may not clearly see a distinction with in the category. For these customers, any drink in tetra pack will qualify as a fruit juice. These customers may not see a relevance in the 100% juice positioning. It is going to be a challenge for Saint to bring these customers to its fold.

Hence the next challenge for the brand is to take the 100% pure proposition into certain benefits that a larger set of customers will appreciate.


When there is lot of clutter and noise in the market, it makes sense for the brand to talk straight. Consumers look for simple solutions to his needs.

Related Brand
Real

5 comments:

  1. This coverage looks too one-sided to me. Maybe there is nothing more to it, but I become suspicious when something is covered in either all-positive or all-negative light.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sir It was a good article by you.
    Very Informational about the juice market,segments and varities.so next time i have to be health concience what i take as i knew that fruit drinks are totally made by fruits??

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ambuj, sorry if the post looked one sided. i liked the product and campaign much. hence was writing positively

    @navin thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, When they say no added sugar do they mean no aspartame too? Most of the brands say sugar free and still add aspartame which has worse effects on health than the sugar.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Leon: Thanks for mentioning Aspartame. Do you know brands that do not add aspartame to the drinks?

    ReplyDelete

Your Views are Important. Please share your views as comments.