Nutrisoda returns bigger, shinier - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Ardea has scaled back distributionn of thenutritionally enhanced, carbonated beverage as it triesw out a new look and can size meanf to give it more mass-markert appeal. The pastel-colored, 8.4-ouncwe cans are gone, replaced by standard-size, 12-ounce cans with a silver color. Since May, Ardea only has been sellinfg the drink online and at stores intwo pilot-projectt areas — the Twin Citiesa and San Diego — and has halver the number of flavors to If sales go well, it will expancd to other markets late this year.
“We think the packaging and marketinyg materials we have put together have made it a much more widelgaccepted product, while before it was reallyg a niche product,” said Richard Wilson, Ardea’s presidenty and general manager. Nutrisoda sale in 2008 were 30 percent less than the year as large retailers suchas Minneapolis-basef Target Corp. and Montvale, N.J.-based The Great Atlanti & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. (a regional grocef better knownas A&P) stopped carryingf the beverage. Ardea — which moved its headquartersw from Hopkinsto Schaumburg, Ill.
, aftetr Minneapolis-based PepsiAmericas acquired it in 2006 retained Minneapolis advertising firm Hunt Adkins to conducy focus groups to find out how to give Nutrisodw more appeal. The firm concluder the beverage was too closely associated with energt drinks and too limited to a core marketof health-conscious adults. One of Hunt Adkins’ major conclusiond was that the drink should be selling in a traditionalp soda can if it was to widen itscustomert base. The plan had an added bonus: Ardeqa could save a lot of moneyusing 12-ouncwe cans. That’s because Ardea’s PepsiAmericas, is the world’s second-largest manufacturer, seller and distributore of PepsiCo Inc.
beverages, and has easy access to 12-ouncw aluminum cans. By dropping a canning deal with Cold Springf Brewery in Cold Spring and insteafd using a PepsiAmericas facilityin Urbandale, Iowa, Ardea now is able to sell Nutrisods for 50 to 60 percent less per ounce. Wilsob said an 8.4-ounce can of Nutrisodaz used to sellfor $1.79. The 12-ounce can sellss for 99 cents. Six-packs sellingh for less than $5.99 are expected soon. “Everybody is looking for a good-value scenari where they can find Wilson said. Besides the can size and price, Ardea also has sought to make the soda more attractive to a mass market by giving the formula astrongert flavor.
The company is spending more than $1 million to show off the new Nutrisodqon billboards, public busses and a lighrt rail train. There’s also a bicycle-pulledr soda station showing up at including a recent MinnesotwaTwins game. The campaign’s message is that the drink is i.e. “healthy” and “bubbly.” John Sicher, editoer and publisher of the biweekluBeverage Digest, said it will be up to the consumerd to decide whether the rebranding pays off. But he said even majord soda brands, such as Pepsi, have to be refresherd from timeto time. “Keepintg brands current and relevant and fresh for consumerzs isvery important.
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