Hawaiian Punch is giving Punchy more pop.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., which owns Hawaiian Punch, is giving the fruity drink’s mascot a 21st-Century facelift with new computer-generated design. Punchy’s new three-dimensional surfer look, to be featured on packaging now being shipped and in Internet campaigns starting in February, will try to appeal more to the drink’s target audience of 13-year-olds, who have grown up watching cartoons like Pixar Animation Studio’s Toy Story.
“Punchy is very Hanna-Barbera,” Jaxie Alt, Dr Pepper Snapple’s vice president of juice and juice drinks, said, referring to the animation studio behind the Flintstones and Scooby-Doo cartoons. “But we live in a Pixar world now.”
Dr Pepper is also modernizing Hawaiian Punch in accord with today’s health concerns. It is adding the artificial sweetener sucralose, commercially known as Splenda, and a proprietary additive that enhances sweetness. The new formula cuts calories by 25 percent as the beverage industry starts to display calorie counts on labels. Panels of “flavor experts,” as well as moms and teens, couldn’t tell the difference between the new and old formulas, Alt said.
Hawaiian Punch also will become available in a six-pack of 10-ounce bottles, giving it a presence in the single-serve market that’s more profitable.
The marketing push behind Hawaiian Punch is the largest in five years for the drink, but the company would not say how much it was spending.
The new design and formula come after Hawaiian Punch thrived during the recession, with its gallon jug priced at $2 to $2.49, offering value to families with kids. Hawaiian Punch’s volume sales rose 14 percent in 2009 and 7 percent though the first nine-months of last year.
The success has put pressure on the company to keep expanding the brand, its third-largest by volume, especially as consumers may “trade-up” to more-expensive drinks with an improving economy. It is a dilemma shared by several value-oriented companies, from fast-food chains to dollar stores, that hope to hang on to frugal customers they won during the downturn.
Hawaiian Punch becomes the latest drink in Dr Pepper’s portfolio to get more attention. Since going public in 2008, Dr Pepper has launched new advertising campaigns for Snapple iced tea, Canada Dry ginger ale and 7-Up lemon-lime soda, as well as its namesake drink.
Devoting more marketing to Hawaiian Punch could help Dr Pepper build its presence in noncarbonated drinks, an area of the beverage industry that is growing as soda sales remain in decline.
“Consumer tastes are changing from soda to still drinks,” Morningstar analyst Philip Groman said. “Investors have to take this as a positive sign that management is paying attention to building out its (noncarbonated drinks) portfolio.”
Dr Pepper shares were recently at $35.70, down 2.4 percent for the day, but have rallied nearly 23 percent in the last 12 months, outpacing gains of 8.9 percent at PepsiCo and 11.4 percent at Coca-Cola Inc.
Hawaiian Punch has passed through a number of owners, including RJ Reynolds Co. and Procter & Gamble Inc. since three men invented the drink in a converted garage in 1934.
Punchy came later, in 1961, and while his isn’t a household name, his tagline — “How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?” — is.
Punchy will no longer sock his unsuspecting sidekick with a punch. His coiled fist was replaced with a “hang-ten” hand gesture, and his attitude is more energetic than laid-back.
