Mixability: Mixed with style

For several years we have watched the great and the good of the spirits market try to inspire growth in sales and rekindle interest in the category in pubs.

We have seen perfect-serve initiatives, several moves into cocktails, new brands and endless brand variations.

But one tactic above all others has been used by drinks companies in order to attract the attention of the nation's drinkers - and that is premiumisation. It is a word you would struggle to find in a dictionary - it's just been made up by some marketing whizzkid.

And yet we have seen every drinks category in the trade use this tactic to invigorate sales, with spirits being the best example. If sales are falling then why not introduce a brand that is better quality and has a more exciting image?

So in vodka where you have Smirnoff you can now also have Grey Goose or Ketel One. Where you have Gordon's gin you can now also have Tanqueray and Bombay Sapphire, in rum Appleton's is available as well as Bacardi, and in whisky the blend has very much been overshadowed by the single malt, even in your local boozer.

And yet soft drinks have not followed this trend - which on the face of it is strange. Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are to cola drinks what Smirnoff and Gordon's are to white spirits: mass-selling, top quality and well-liked. But whereas some discerning customers would look to trade up from Smirnoff or Gordon's when ordering a mixed drink, they are more than happy to stick with Pepsi or Coke.

Now there is nothing wrong with this - they are both great products. But they are available everywhere and don't offer the consumer anything different from the drink they would get in any other bar, restaurant or coffee shop around the country.

There are some brand owners that have looked at this conundrum and spied an opportunity. For example, Schweppes has unveiled a series of innovations in the past 18 months to beef up its mixer offering.

The Coca-Cola-owned brand last year launched new pomegranate and juniper tonics. It has also launched a variety of new pack options in the on-trade as well as its 'Russchian' aromatic mixer - perfect, it says, for mixing with vodka.

There are other soft drinks suppliers that claim adults are ready to trade up even further in the world of soft drinks.

Fentimans

The Northumberland-based soft drinks company has very recently launched a range of three premium mixers: Ginger Beer, Tonic Water and Curiosity Cola. They are packaged in 125ml bottles and are "botanically brewed". It is a proper brewing process and it takes between seven and 10 days just to get the product in bottle.

Eldon Robson, managing director of Fentimans, believes that licensees need to have soft drink options that are as premium as some of the spirits.

"There are lots of fantastic and expensive spirits being brought to market and now we have something to match that in soft drinks. The mixer category is very mundane right now," he says.

But the question is, will this innovation really get traction in the market? Previously, licensees have failed to be moved by the idea of premium soft drinks - they have been happy either to stick with the Cokes and the Pepsis of this world, or even trade down in order to cut costs.

"We are starting at the top end and the bar trade has shown us a lot of enthusiasm for the product - the attitude has been that the industry needs this," says Eldon.

Fever Tree

The driving force behind this range of premium soft drinks is Charles Rolls. He arrived at the idea of entering the premium soft drinks market when he was managing director of Plymouth Gin.

While doing a gin and tonic tasting in New York with the brand and several of its competitors he became distinctly unhappy at the quality of tonics on offer.

He says: "When we started to look into the composition of the mixers, we were astonished. All the UK tonics contained artificial sweeteners such as saccharin.

"What was the point of the premium gin, vodka, whisky and rum companies making excellent spirits if they were to be served up with mixers of such poor quality that the whole drinking experience was compromised?

"So in 2004 Fever Tree came up with a range of mixers using 'the best all-natural ingredients'."

Fever Tree's portfolio now consists of Tonic Water, Ginger Ale, Bitter Lemon, Lemonade and Soda Water, and the company has become part of sampling and marketing of a number of premium spirits brands, including Plymouth and Tanqueray gin, Johnnie Walker, Compass Box, 42 Below, Millers Gin, and Ketel One.