Beverage World - May 2008 - (Page 40) [SPECIALREPORT] TOP GLOBAL BRANDS Speaking to the Masses While emerging markets like China are producing top global beverage brands, super brands like Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch still rule the world. By Jennifer Cirillo B everage World, for the first time, is putting together rankings of the Top 10 global beverage brands in select beverage categories for its 2008 Top Global Brands Report. There aren’t many surprises in the pages to come as to which brands are the market leaders in the beer and CSD categories, for example, however it is interesting to note which regional brands have found their way into the Top 10 and continue to climb the list, like Snow and Brahma beer brands. But beyond gaining a strong footing in regional markets, there remains the challenge of creating a global super brand, if you will, for brand owners. Hollis says, “It’s very unusual to find a beer that is No. 1 in its home country, but really manages to establish a No. 1 position in another country. Heineken has done a very good job of rolling out its brand on a successful basis around the world on a consistent basis.” For regional brews, it’s Snow, the Chinese-based beer brand that resides at No. 4 (for now) on the list, that demonstrated notable growth, nearly 95 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to Canadean, the global beverage research company based in the United Kingdom. “The thing about any products in the Chinese market, for example,” says Roethenbaugh, “is the sheer size of the population, which makes brands that much more established.” Take Aqua, for example, a bottled water brand from Indonesia, which didn’t make the list of Top 10 Bottled Water brands from Millward Brown Optimor, but now controls more than half (more than 50 million hectoliters) Global Share of Stomach 2007* (in billions of liters) Alcohol 3% Soft** 40% Beer 12% Milk/Soy 17% Tea & Coffee 28% “Now, the challenge for any brand owner is taking the international distribution platform that they have, whether it be Anheuser-Busch or Coca-Cola, and then leveraging that in a local way,” says Gary Roethenbaugh, market intelligence director for Zenith International Ltd. Among brands that have done that successfully are, undoubtedly, AnheuserBusch, Coca-Cola, Red Bull and Evian, to name a few. “Having looked at how well brands can actually transcend cultures and countries, Coca-Cola is one of those that really does that well,” says Nigel Hollis, chief global analyst at New York-based Millward Brown Optimor. “What they have done very well in the developing countries is to move their product out in a way that is more acceptable and more affordable to the lower income consumer.” In China and India, for instance, the company offered smaller packaging at a lower price point. In regards to the global beer market, 40_BEVERAGE WORLD_MAY 2008 *ESTIMATED **INCLUDES CSDS, ENERGY SPORTS, JUICES, ICED , TEA/COFFEE, WATER, SYRUPS AND POWDERS SOURCE: CANADEAN LIMITED of the local bottled water market, according to Beverage Marketing Corporation. Groupe Danone, which bought a 40 percent stake of Aqua in 1998 and became a majority stockholder in 2001, reports that volume of the brand has increased by 10 percent for the past three years. BW BEVERAGEWORLD.COM http://BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
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