Globally, seltzers are made with infusion of juices and interesting flavours. It has already emerged as the fastest-growing category in the Western countries.
Historically, people from Niederselters, a town in Germany bottled and exported their naturally carbonated water in 1787 and Americans called it seltzer. 100 years back, in 19th century, people started adding seltzer to milk either as a refreshment or a tonic to cure diseases.
Amul is adding real fruit juice and milk solids to make it a fizzy drink of choice for the new generation. It will give Indian consumers an opportunity to taste tomorrow, today.
Indian beverage market has plethora of categories like, carbonated soft drinks, milk based beverages, juices and nectars, ready to drink coffee, among others..
Amul is the market leader in dairy beverages and has an impressive portfolio comprising of sub categories such as flavoured milk, cold coffee, milkshakes, smoothies, traditional drinks like Kadhai doodh, Gur doodh, honey doodh, immunity boosting range like haldi doodh, tulsi doodh, ginger doodh, ashwagandha doodh, dairy based mocktails, cultured drinks like buttermilk and lassi among other beverages.
To strengthen its beverage product portfolio, Amul had launched a blend of milk and real fruit juice under the brand ‘Tru’ in Feb 2019.
The product, available in four flavours – mango, orange, litchi and apple, has received very good feedback from the market and got 10 percent market share in the first quarter of launch.
One of the huge beverage categories is carbonated soft drinks. As such there has not been much innovation in this category. Consumers are also moving away from sugary beverages that only contain water, sugar and fizz.
Amul researched deep into this category and figured that Seltzer which originated more than 300 years ago has never been explored in India. This was before the advent of modern medicine that naturally carbonated water that bubbled to the surface in springs around the world, and spas sprung up where visitors could “take the waters” were considered a powerful medicine.
As seltzer shares an old connect with milk and dairy, Amul has launched Seltzer to provide consumers a healthy and tasty beverage. Amul Tru Seltzer is a finest blend of dairy, fruits and fizz. The products contain goodness of dairy, real fruit juice, and exciting fizz. It is therefore much more than just sugar and water which every brand has been selling to Indian consumers. This product is suitable for consumption by all age groups, Amul has said.
According to Amul, India’s first Seltzer, Amul TRU Seltzer is currently available in two flavours – lemon and orange. It is priced at Rs 15 for 200ml PET bottle. Orange Seltzer contains 10 percent orange juice, no artificial colour and flavour and just 10 percent added sugar. As compared to this, leading orange competitor brand has 13 percent added sugar and synthetic food colour. Similarly, Lemon Seltzer contains 5 percent lime juice, no artificial colour and flavour and 9 percent added sugar. As compared to this, leading lemon competitor has 12 percent added sugar.
While real fruit juice, both Amul Tru Orange and Lemon Seltzer have goodness of milk solids, which no other beverage in India has. It is a remarkable innovation by Amul, the company has claimed.
Amul has created an attractive communication and point of sale promotion strategy for this new brand. Advertising campaign highlighting the product proposition “Dairy, Fruity, Fizzy” shall also be aired on TV and social media. The teaser campaign in hoardings across the state “Is it a Cola?”, “Is it a Shake?” and “Is it a Juice?” a week before launch had created lot of curiosity and had gone viral.
Having launched two flavours this week in the Gujarat market, Amul will soon roll out many new variants like Cola, Jeera and Apple, all made from real fruit, in PET bottles and shall and also introduce all flavours in smart Can packaging also, the company has informed.