Cadbury's Dr Pepper Cherry-Vanilla Off to 'Strong Start.'
7UP Plus Slows, But Reformulation Coming.

Bottler interviews and data show Dr Pepper Cherry-Vanilla -- especially diet version -- has gained some initial traction. Notes one bottler, "it's off to a strong start." Another bottler: "It's doing great for us." Jim Trebilcock, Cadbury Americas Beverages senior vp consumer marketing, says regular is doing "as expected." But diet "has exceeded our expectations." Notes its repeat rate is 50+%. Adds, "I can't remember seeing a repeat rate like that since we re-introduced Diet Dr Pepper back in 1990." Background. Dr Pepper Cherry-Vanilla was launched last fall. Diet version went national in January. Regular will go national this summer; now sold only in Dr Pepper "heartland" markets.

Diet details. Trebilcock says Diet Cherry-Vanilla is 80% incremental re Diet Dr Pepper and 40%-50% incremental overall. Explains it is sourcing about 25% of its volume from non-carbs and water. Claims "rich, rewarding" taste "plays well to variety-seekers." Predicts Diet Cherry-Vanilla will avoid "boom-splat" phenomenon which has afflicted many other recent new CSD products. Says product's velocity at retail continues to increase, and product is "bringing new users to the trademark." Declares: "We're not going to do boom-splat marketing. We'll continue to support it." When product was launched last fall, Cadbury executives said cherry-vanilla flavor -- first in new "Fountain Classic" Pepper line extension -- might be in market only several years. But Trebilcock now says: "This is probably a permanent item ... It will be a long-term player."

7UP Plus; new products. Re 7UP Plus fortified line extension launched late last summer, Trebilcock says in 4th quarter 2004, "it did extremely well. It has slowed down significantly." But, he says, Cadbury will "re-introduce" it and also add new flavors in August (BD 3/24/05). Re-introduction will entail "slight reformulation" to make product easier for bottlers to produce and to "enhance its flavor." Notes: "The flavor delivery will be much improved."

Data. Diet Cherry-Vanilla holds 0.5 volume share and 0.6 dollar share in data covering YTD through mid-March. Channels are food/drug/convenience/mass merchandiser (excluding Wal-Mart). Regular Cherry-Vanilla holds 0.2 volume share and 0.3 dollar. Together, diet/regular versions have nearly 1.0 share of dollars. 7UP Plus holds 0.2 volume share and 0.3 dollar share. Context. Table shows shares of Cadbury new products along with Coke C2 and Pepsi Edge for perspective.