Category Captain: Canned and Packaged Beverages—Juice Drinks: Campbell Soup Co. (V8)

Campbell has launched 15 new items in the shelf-stable juice drink category, including the first shelf-stable fruit- and vegetable-based smoothies, sparkling juices, and energy drinks. Many of these items are expanding the category into new dayparts (afternoon, evening) and fulfilling new need states (energy, refreshment, snacking), so the volume is largely incremental to the category.

A May 2011 test of the company’s V8 V-Fusion + Energy platform at a major national retailer yielded highly positive sales results for the 8-ounce trial size cans, which sold at two for $1 in support of newly distributed 8-ounce 6-packs of two new varieties. Sold in 2,300 stores, the packs quickly become the No. 2 and No. 3 fastest-turning V8 V-Fusion multipacks out of the six varieties the retailer carries.

Another major retailer ran a share-building promotional event in March 2011 for V8 100% Vegetable Juice 46-ounce and V8 V-Fusion 46-ounce at $2.99, with a consumer takeaway of 1.7 million units.

As a result of such efforts, over the latest 52 weeks ending Aug. 14, total U.S. FDMx sales for the shelf-stable juice/drinks category sales were $4.7 billion, an increase of 0.6 percent from a year ago, according to SymphonyIRI. For the same time period, Campbell Soup Co. sales were $556 million, an increase of 0.8 percent vs. last year, driven by V8 V-Fusion, which was up 5.8 percent, and V8 Splash, up 11.4 percent.