Forum Archive Index - July 2000

[bagelnz@es.co.nz]

Hi Brian and Nick and other "V" interested parties!

I have been working on a small story which will be published on ShareChat
this week re "V" which will bring you up to date re its UK launch.

I think you are right Brian - the growth success of Frucor is most likely
linked to the success or otherwise of this "new age beverage" aka energy
drink.

I had my doubts about the Frucor float, thinking with "V" the company was
putting all its growth eggs in one basket.  Since listing and learning more
about the market and the marketing going into "V" overseas, I am
considerably more optimistic.

As I tend to focus on things from a marketing background, my current
feeling is that "V" may just have cracked it.  That is, it has produced a
product which satisfies all the four basics of marketing (and I hark back
to marketing 101 here ) - it has the right product in the right place at
the right price with the right promotion. On top of that, I believe it
(like most other drinks which are basically sugar and water and carbon
dioxide) has an excellent profit margin.

Several years ago when the "new age beverage" market was just beginning I
did not think the market as a whole would last long, but as I say, that was
several years ago, and while many offerings have fallen by the wayside
(iced tea drinks for example) there are plenty of others with a good
following.

I mentioned in a posting many weeks ago that even the power and marketing
of Coke couldn't make a success of the "energy drink" market.  They
introduced a product called "Lift Plus", basically trying to make an energy
drink by adding some extras to a product already in their line-up, the
lemon flavoured drink "Lift".

Now, given Lift Plus was a marketing flop, but "V" has gone from strength
to strength, I don't think it would be too far wrong to say that somehow
Furcor has stumbled onto a winner.  They got the taste right (well, some
people think so!), the name right (ie. "V"), the product design right, the
pricing right (considerably less than Red Bull) and the distribution.  Of
course with any marketing, its the consumer who is king and decides if a
product will win.  "V" seems to have done this as well.

With success in Australia and South Africa the product appears to be able
to duplicate its home grown success.  So next stop Britain and then onto
Europe... will it last?  Will it win there?

We'll find out.   I don't think it would be too off the mark to say that
many years ago the thought of investing in a company which produced a brown
bubbling drink based on the cola nut would have been a good investment... I
only wish my ancestors had bought some Coke shares for me!  As for Guarana,
I understand it is a South American plant extract and is effectively a
caffeine lookalike, but an internet search on guarana will inform you more.

Cheers, Phil Boeyen, Business Editor, ShareChat



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