Nutrisoda returns bigger, shinier - Washington Business Journal:

http://www.lucidicstudios.com/Web-Design-Basics-How-to-Design-and-Build-Design-Your-Own-Website.html
Ardea has scaled back distribution of thenutritionally enhanced, carbonated beverage as it triesx out a new look and can size meanrt to give it more mass-market The pastel-colored, 8.4-ounce cans are gone, replacesd by standard-size, 12-ounce cans with a silver Since May, Ardea only has been selling the drink onlinwe and at stores in two pilot-projectf areas — the Twin Cities and San Diego — and has halveed the number of flavors to four.
If salees go well, it will expanf to other markets latethis “We think the packaging and marketing materialxs we have put together have made it a much more widely accepted product, while before it was really a nichw product,” said Richard Wilson, Ardea’a president and general manager. Nutrisoda sales in 2008 were 30 percenft less than theyear before, as large retailersw such as Minneapolis-based Target Corp. and N.J.-based The Great Atlanticx & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. (a regional grocer bettere knownas A&P) stopped carryin the beverage.
Ardea — which moverd its headquarters from Hopkinsto Schaumburg, after Minneapolis-based PepsiAmericas acquired it in 2006 — retainexd Minneapolis advertising firm Hunt Adkins to conduct focuw groups to find out how to give Nutrisoda more appeal. The firm concludedc the beverage was too closely associatesd with energy drinks and too limited to a core marketof health-conscious adults. One of Hunt Adkins’ major conclusionsz was that the drink should be selling in a traditional soda can if it was to widenh itscustomer base. The plan had an addede bonus: Ardea could save a lot of moneyusing 12-ouncre cans.
That’s because Ardea’s PepsiAmericas, is the world’s second-largest seller and distributor ofPepsiCo Inc. and has easy access to 12-ounce aluminum By dropping a canning deal with Cold Sprinvg Brewery in Cold Sprinv and instead using a PepsiAmericas facilityin Iowa, Ardea now is able to sell Nutrisoda for 50 to 60 percentf less per ounce. Wilson said an 8.4-ounce can of Nutrisodza used to sellfor $1.79. The 12-ounce can sells for 99 Six-packs selling for less than $5.999 are expected soon. “Everybodyt is looking for a good-value scenarip where they can find it,” Wilson said.
Besidezs the can size and price, Ardea also has soughr to make the soda more attractivew to a mass market by giving the formula astrongedr flavor. The company is spending more than $1 millionm to show off the new Nutrisoda on billboards, public busses and a light rail There’s also a bicycle-pulled soda station showing up at including a recent Minnesota Twins game. The campaign’a message is that the drink is “hubbly,” i.e. and “bubbly.” John Sicher, editofr and publisher of the biweeklyBeverage Digest, said it will be up to the consumer to decide whether the rebranding pays off.
But he said even majord soda brands, such as Pepsi, have to be refreshed from timeto “Keeping brands current and relevantr and fresh for consumers is very important.”