Mt. Dew LiveWire Ignites Orange Segment in C-Stores.
Root Beer Results Mixed.

Orange and root beer segments show very different results last year. While root beer grew modestly in supermarkets and fell in C-stores, orange segment growth exploded in both channels. Orange segment's growth was largely due to successful introduction of Pepsi's Mt. Dew LiveWire, which is classified in this data as orange. Pepsi, however, takes issue with that categorization. Pepsi executive: "With all due respect to your data, Mountain Dew LiveWire is not an orange soda. It's an inimitable new Dew, combining the unique formula of base Mountain Dew with a bold orange flavor."

Plus. Overall CSD category volume was up +3.9% overall in C-stores and up +0.1% in supermarkets. In C-stores, LiveWire's volume accounted for 30% of all added CSD cases in channel during 11 months 2003. Sunkist is #1 brand in supermarkets and was #1 in C-stores pre-LiveWire; but LiveWire sold slightly more cases than Sunkist in C-stores. Pepsi system executives suggest LiveWire will be back in market this year.

Data. Table shows orange and root beer segments and top brands' performance in supermarkets/C-stores. Data covers 11 months 2003. "Share" and "Share Change" columns represent shares of each brand within its segment and share change vs 11 months 2002. Details: orange. Cadbury's Sunkist is #1 brand in supermarkets with 30.4 share. Sunkist and Crush together hold 33.1 segment share in supermarkets. With LiveWire/Slice, Pepsi's share of orange segment is 17 in supermarkets. Coke holds 9.9 share with Minute Maid/Fanta. In C-stores, Pepsi's LiveWire/Slice hold combined share of 40.8. Cadbury's C-store share is 35.3. Coke is at 16.3 with Fanta/Minute Maid. Also. Sunkist and Fanta grow volume in both channels.

Details: root beer. Segment grows above-industry in supermarkets, led by Cadbury's A&W, Pepsi's Mug and private label. In supermarkets, Mug closes to within two share points of Coke's Barq's, but still lags Cadbury's A&W. In C-stores, segment under-performs. Pepsi's Mug posts slim growth and gains share, as segment loses volume.