Cranberry juice brand Ocean Spray has appointed Euro Food Brands (EFB) as its sales agent partner as part of a strategy to widen its reach.
EFB will be responsible for increasing Ocean Spray’s presence and growing sales in a number of channels, including retail, wholesale and on-trade. The commercial team will also be looking to maximise the recent launch of Ocean Spray’s new Pink Cranberry No Added Sugar juice drink, as well as supporting new product launches in the future.
Ocean Spray is the UK’s number one cranberry juice brand and is performing strongly in UK retail, with value growth of 13% year-on-year and volume sales up 4.1% in the same period versus the total Juice and Juice Drinks category, which has experienced overall volume sales decline of 5.7%. The brand noted that its latest innovation, Pink Cranberry, is generating significant incremental sales opportunities in the category.
As such, Caroline Bethell, Managing Director of Ocean Spray UK and EMEA, believes there are big opportunities to be had for the brand by increasing distribution across a wider range of channels.
She said: “Ocean Spray has been a renowned expert in cranberries since 1930 and we want to continue to maximise our expertise in producing quality, ‘better-for-you’ cranberry products by bringing our existing and future product ranges to a wider audience. We also want to introduce new consumption occasions to consumers, just as we are doing with our new Pink Cranberry juice drink, which is changing perceptions around taste and occasions, taking the brand beyond the traditional breakfast occasion and making it more accessible to a wider, younger and health-conscious audience.
“We’ve partnered with Euro Food Brands to assist us in achieving these goals. The team has impressive experience in building premium food and drink brands and excellent cross-channel commercial expertise, which will support our aim to bring Ocean Spray to more UK consumers.”
Peter Butler, Managing Director of Euro Food Brands, added: “We’re delighted to be working with the UK’s leading cranberry juice brand and look forward to supporting Ocean Spray’s continued plans for growth, helping to strengthen both out-of-home distribution as well as accelerating its retail offer, enabling Ocean Spray to better respond to the needs of consumers who are clearly looking for more from their juices and juice drinks.”
