product news: Rubicon unveils relaunch of stills range

Barr Soft Drinks is unveiling a relaunch of its Rubicon Stills range, in a move that will target the broadest possible range of consumers across a wide variety of occasions.

The new stills range will comprise three products – Rubicon Regular, Rubicon Deluxe and Rubicon Light & Fruity – attracting newcomers to the brand while meeting the needs of existing consumers.

“The UK’s population and tastes have changed, with what was once considered exotic becoming more mainstream,” said Adrian Troy, marketing director for Barr Soft Drinks.

“As a result, Rubicon is an important mainstream national brand with more people buying it than ever before, as well as retaining its number one position with core ethnic consumers.

“The new Rubicon Stills range will offer the all-important choice and variety that consumers want from the nation’s favourite exotic juice brand.”

Products in the Rubicon Regular range have been reformulated to contain at least 50% less sugar than the previous recipe, with the addition of the natural sweetener stevia, and will be sugar levy free.

The relaunch also includes the introduction of a reformulated Rubicon Light and Fruity Mango variant featuring a new, no added sugar recipe to provide a lighter, low calorie offering.

The relaunch is completed by the introduction of the new Rubicon Deluxe range, available in Mango and Guava flavours. These are more indulgent deluxe products, with a higher sugar level than regular Rubicon, intended for special occasions and entertaining, as well as a high-sugar drink during Ramadan.

Barr Soft Drinks will be backing the new Rubicon Stills range in 2018 with a £5m marketing communications programme, including outdoor advertising to introduce the new range in March, driving the brand’s sponsorship of the England cricket team through the Summer, nationwide sampling, in-store activation, on-pack promotion and social media.

“To capitalise on this opportunity, and to provide the breadth of choice that shoppers want across many different occasions, we’ll be working with retailers to highlight the sales uplift that we believe will be achieved by selling Rubicon Regular, Deluxe and Light & Fruity together,” added Troy.