Peter Haedge – Eckes-Granini

Eckes-Granini is a leading supplier of fruit juices and fruit-based drinks in Europe. In Sweden, main brands in the portfolio include God Morgon, Brämhults, JO, Rynkeby and Pago. In this interesting interview, Peter Haedge, Sales Director at Eckes-Granini Sweden, talks about navigating market disruptions with innovation, strategic campaign management and expanding consumption occasions in a market currently facing an orange concentrate shortage and high inflation.

Navigating Market Disruptions with Product Innovation

In today’s fast-changing market landscape, flexibility in marketing and innovation is crucial for any brand’s resilience and growth. Peter mentions that the brand usually focuses on value growth through market share and penetration. However, in these times of high inflation with massive price increases in the category it´s also very important to look at volume development since value growth naturally is an effect from price increases.

Currently, the world is also facing an orange crisis due to a parasite in Brazil and Florida attacking the citrus plants, forcing farmers to cut down the trees and plant new ones. This has created a shortage of orange juice concentrate, affecting all producers on the market, and additionally shooting up the prices. Due to this crisis, Eckes-Granini is not able to sell as much as it would like to, creating a new type of need for quick innovation in the industry. “There’s no quick fix to this; we’ve had to adjust in the industry, starting to innovate and think differently, with more innovations to come involving other fruit blends based on apples and other fruits,” Peter says.

An example of a new product coming out of this current market situation with high prices and the orange shortage is the brand God Morgon’s orange nectar drink. Instead of being 100% orange juice, this is a drink containing only 50% fruit, with the rest being water and sugar. “That’s the solution you see in the category now. If you look around week seven of what was launched, there are extremely many companies introducing fruit drinks and nectars instead,” Peter adds.

“Value growth will always be a key KPI. However, in these times, it has become increasingly important to also consider volume.”

Strategic Campaign Management

Not only has Eckes-Granini been forced to innovate with new product solutions, but the marketing strategy was also forced to change to tackle the new challenges. Resource constraints, whether in raw materials or budget limitations, demand a strategic re-evaluation of campaign management. “In these times of inflation, consumers naturally look for campaign offers, and I guess you can see an increased promotion share in most categories,” Peter says. “Due to the orange crisis, it´s the other way around in our category,” he continues.

Eckes-Granini, along with many other players in the category, has been forced to cut down on campaigns; “We have been forced to rethink our entire campaign program since the campaigns we used to do are no longer possible due to price changes and raw-material issues.” These issues are dividing the portfolio in a challenging way. As always, the essential part is that the promotion will drive volume; “At this time, we don´t know how the campaigns will turn out. We are on a learning curve since we have been forced to change a lot in the campaign portfolio, price points, etc.”

Although the promotions focus mostly on driving value at the moment, Eckes-Granini also invests in brand-building promotions such as in-store “buy and get” offers, tasting or competitions. These don’t drive as much volume, but create a connection with the consumer, making these relate to the brand differently. Peter emphasises a difference in what sort of campaigns work at what kind of retailers, and that the outcome of the campaign also differs depending on if the campaign is central or store-specific. “Of course, it´s important to do campaigns of different types all over the market, both central and local campaigns. Some will drive big volumes, and some will give other values for us as a company. It’s important to track the campaigns and learn which ones are good and which are not, and to improve along the way,” Peter states.

“It’s important to track the campaigns to learn which ones are good and which are not, and to improve along the way.”

Expanding Consumption Occasions

Lastly, the interview touches on the potential for brand growth through the strategic expansion of consumption occasions. Finding so-called ‘category entry points’ (CEPs), moments and occasions where consumers think about the brand or brand category, is a crucial parameter. By leveraging consumer insights to identify and target new consumption moments beyond the traditional, Eckes-Granini is broadening its product appeal and usage by finding out whether there is a brand fit for another occasion besides the primary one.

Peter mentions that the whole category is currently moving towards providing different drink options including smoothies and other fruit-based drinks that are more filling. “A significant focus for us is on creating new consumption occasions. We’re strong in the breakfast occasion, but we want to encourage our consumers to consider juice or fruit drinks for lunch or as a snack,” Peter explains. “We’ve conducted such studies, and they show breakfast is extremely dominant. We see great potential in developing products that appeal to other occasions beyond breakfast.“

“As market leaders, it´s important for us to be in the driver’s seat to develop the category together with our customers. As the category is very dominantly linked to the breakfast occasion there is big potential to develop the category by introducing products for other occasions.” An example is the brand Brämhults, which has seen fantastic growth over the last five years with its Lemonade range. Furthermore, Eckes-Granini is targeting other occasions such as lunch, serving juices as non-alcoholic drink options or just as a very nice thirst quencher. This reflects a broader trend of brands diversifying their market appeal by positioning their products as suitable for various parts of a consumer’s day or lifestyle, thus driving incremental growth.

“A significant focus for us is on creating new consumption occasions. We’re strong in the breakfast occasion, but we want to encourage our consumers to consider juice or fruit drinks for lunch or as a snack.”