Marketing Management
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Snapple Beverage Company
Snapple Beverage Company started in 1972 as Unadulterated Food Corporation, which was founded by three New York City friends – Leonard March, Hyman Golden and Arnold Greenberg. The companys first beverage was Snappy-apple, a carbonated apple juice. The name was later shortened to Snapple, which ultimately became the companys new name. Snapple was a company that did not follow traditional product and marketing rules. The three founding friends believed in a philosophy of following their instincts and taking risks, knowing that there would be some failures along the way. Today, Snapple continues to follow this philosophy with their creative flavor combinations and quirky marketing campaigns which has helped to make Snapple beverages a major player in todays beverage market. Snapple also believes in keeping their customers closely involved in the evolution of their product line so that they are producing products and flavor combinations that customers want.
In April of 1992, the original owners sold to Thomas H. Lee and Company, a Boston investment firm, who then took the company public. Within three months following the initial public offering, Snapples stock value tripled. In December of 1994, Snapple Beverage Corporation was purchased by Quaker Oats Company for $1.7 billion. Thomas H. Lee and Company paid $135 million in 1992. Snapple had some setbacks while owned by Quaker Oats due to poor product positioning that focused on grocery stores instead of vending machines and convenience stores that had proven very successful in the past. It was found that Snapple was not a beverage that consumers planned ahead for consumption. Snapple is a product that is purchased on the go at the time for immediate consumption. Quaker Oats sold Snapple in May of 1997 to Triarc Beverage Group. Triarc helped bring Snapple back by refocusing the positioning of the product back to smaller outlets and revitalizing the quirky commercials of the early 1990s. In November of 2000, Snapple was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes, its current owner.
Snapple currently produces what is referred to as beverage “alternatives” in the beverage industry. Soft drinks are the number one seller in this market. Snapple produces juice drinks, teas, lemonades and diet versions of these drinks. Their slogan, “Made from the best stuff on earth,” has been with them a long time and represents the fact that Snapple is made with all natural ingredients (except for the diet drinks) with no preservatives, flavorings or chemical dyes added. Snapple even claims that your favorite drink may taste slightly different from time-to-time depending on fluctuations in the fruit due to variations in the crops such as rain, sun and weather patterns. Snapple also produces most of its products to be kosher-certified which is noted by either a “K” or “circle K” on the label. The difference between the “K” and the “circle K” reflects the difference in the organizations that oversee the kosherization process.
Snapple is produced in 20oz, 32oz and 64oz plastic bottles as well as 4, 12, and 24 packs of 16oz bottles and 8 packs of 12oz cans. Snapple has over 300 distributors in
the United States who independently sell to small convenience stores and vending machines. Snapple is also sold in over 80 other countries.
Snapple has an extensive list of products. Snapple currently produces over thirty different flavored beverages that include a line called Snapple-A-Day. Snapple-A-Day is a healthier drink loaded with 100% of the daily allowance of vitamins C and E, contains only 210 calories and comes in three flavors – Strawberry Banana, Tropical Blend and Peach. Snapple is also producing a line of frozen popsicles and markets Snapple branded gear on its website. At Snapple.com customers can purchase such items as Snapple Real Facts Book which contains facts that you would see under Snapple bottle caps, Snapple flavored lip balm, T-shirts and scented candles. These are the flavors Snapple is currently marketing:
JUICE DRINKS:
LEMONADES:
DIETS:
Snapricot Orange
Lemonade Iced Tea
Diet Plum-a-Granate Iced Tea
Snapple Apple
Lemonade
Diet Lemonade Iced Tea
Cranberry Rush
Pink Lemonade
Diet Lime Green Tea
Fruit Punch
Super Sour Lemonade
Diet Peach Tea
Kiwi Strawberry
Diet Pink Lemonade
Mango Madness
TEAS:
Diet Raspberry Tea
Orangeade
Lime Green Tea
Diet Cranberry Raspberry
Raspberry Peach
Very Cherry Tea
Diet Kiwi Strawberry
Summer Peach
Caffeine Free Lemon Tea
Diet Lemon Tea
Go Bananas
Lemon Tea
Diet Orange Carrot
What-a-Melon
Mint Tea
Diet Snapple Apple
Peach Tea
Raspberry Tea
Kiwi Tea
Just Plain Tea Unsweetened
Just to also give an idea of how innovative and risk-taking Snapple has been over the years, the following table is a list of flavors that have been retired, but not forgotten.
(Snapple keeps a listing of Retired Flavors on their website.)
SNAP-UP/SNAPPLE SPORT:
100% JUICE:
Fruit Flavored
Amazin Grape
Lemon
Apple Crisp
Lemon/Lime
Apple N Cherry
Orange
Apricot Royale
Cranberry Grapefruit
SNAPPLE REFRESHERS:
Cranberry Royale
Lemon Sport
Dixie Peach
Mountain Grape
Grapefruit Juice
Orange Punch
Papaya Holiday
Sport Punch
Passion Supreme
Strawberry Lemon
Pineapple Juice
Strawberry Melon
Pink Grapefruit
Whipper Snapple
Raspberry Royale
Straight Grape
TEAS:
Strawberry Royale
Cactus