Cranberry Stressline
Achives
September 2001
Quote from Sarah Johnson, O.S. U.K. manager: "the white cranberry is not fully ripened", Cartoon: Watch out Welch's;" Mountain Dew makes it big by turning Red: Advertising Costs: Virtually Zero; Makepeace cancels plans; .Beverage Digest reports poor first half for single serve juices; OpEd - Response to price inquires - John Decas; Editorial - Best for Ocean Spray, best for Coke, and best for Cranberries if Coke acquires Ocean Spray; Editorials: Will good sense prevail? Changing the Label of White Cranberry Juice: There's no worse stain than when it's on the reputation and credibility of a trusted company; Some pros and cons of a sale of Nectars to Coke; More Editorials: The White Cranberry Lie-o-Meter ; Ripe vs. Mature Press Release: The Cranberry Gets a Makeover; Ocean Spray to Harvest First Crop of 'White Cranberries'; Some have argued that the rattlesnake is not an appropriate symbol for farmers to unite under. We disagree...; From Russia, with cranberries; Media: Related: from 8/29 Coca-Cola May Be Eying Nantucket Nectars; Image scans from Ledger: Scan 1 | Scan 2 | Here's one we missed from New Jersey | 8/22/01 Bitter Protest - Cape Cod Times | Boston Globe Article
Quotes:
Emphasis
added
From the Ocean Spray white cranberry juice
drink label
''Our point of view is the berries
... ripen from a green to a white to a red,'' Gallagher* said. ''They
are ripening through this whole process.'' Gallagher says Ocean
Spray will stick with the label. (see above)
from A.P. article Ocean
Spray looks to reinvigorate cranberry market with white berries
* Stewart M Gallagher is Ocean Spray Vice President/Team Leader Cranberry
Mountain Dew makes it big by turning Red
Advertising Costs: Virtually Zero
9/27/01 An article titled Pepsi-Cola's Code Red is white hot; Mountain Dew extension taps trends, flies off shelves, in the August 27, 2001 edition of Advertising Age, describes the astounding success of the barely advertised new Mountain Dew "Code Red" line extension. After only eleven weeks of distribution with what is being called a "stealth launch" with no advertising or overt hype, it became the fifth largest selling soft drink behind Mountain Dew, Coca-Cola Classic, Pepsi-Cola and Dr Pepper. Traditional greenish yellow Mountain Dew fell 11% to 8.8 million cases during the period, Cie Nicholson, Mountain Dew's marketing director, said that cannibalization of the base brand was slight.
According to Advertising Age:
"Nicholson said the product's word-of-mouth buzz and lack of blatant advertising have helped the brand court savvy teens. She credited Code Red's initial success to its visibility at the X Games, a popular game on the Mountain Dew Web site and a strategy of sending free bottles to 4,000 select consumers before the brand hit stores. She said the name and color also work well. ``Had it been called `Mountain Dew Cherry' ... it would've done very differently.''
Quote: "Last year, sales of Coke's global juice business -- including Minute Maid juices, Hi-C and other brands -- grew 20% and, according to figures in August, had grown by 19% this year." 9/26/01 article "Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble Scrap Plan to Combine Juice and Snack Units" in the Wall Street Journal
Makepeace cancels plans
9/26/01 According to articles in several Massachusetts newspapers, Makepeace has scrapped it's unpopular proposal to develop 6,000 acres of land in Plymouth, Carver and Wareham. The company hoped to build 6,000 homes, four golf courses and 6 mil.sq. ft. of commercial space.
Cranberry Science
9/16/01 A review of some literature related to the color of ripe cranberries.
Editorial Cartoon
We snatched Papadellis from you, now
we're going to grab some market share !
from 9/14/01
Kenosha
plant producing Ocean Spray's white cranberries from
the Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee
9/16/01-- Growers see red over white cranberries: in the Boston Globe South
9/14/01 Boston Globe: Growers have new juice, ads.
OpEd
Response to price inquires
by John Decas
9/13/01 -- Several posters, including "Paul Revere," have posted comments about the present price of cranberry concentrate. "Paul Revere" claims to be a buyer of concentrate but obviously is not, because his comments show that he is totally uninformed. However, he has put my name out there, and I will not allow this kind of misinformation to go unanswered, only because all growers have a right to know what the hell is going on. CONTINUED
9/11/01 CCCGA Press Release: Farmers pay their way and preserve open space
Editorial
Best for Ocean Spray, best for Coke, and best for Cranberries
if
Coke acquires Ocean Spray
9/8/01 Stressline believes that acquisition specialists from Coke have been meeting with Robert Hawthorne and top Ocean Spray executives to discuss far more than the sale of Nantucket Nectars. It is in Coke's interest to compete aggressively with Pepsi in the 64 oz. juice category on the juice aisle where Pepsi is poised to expand their Tropicana Twister line exponentially. Simply put, Coke must have a viable label there within a year or they will cede a vital segment of the juice business to their arch rival.
Stressline believes this, not because of any inside information, but because this is the only scenario that makes any sense from Coke's perspective, and from a business perspective for Ocean Spray's ultimate survival in the juice business. There is no way that if Coke does not acquire Ocean Spray they will sit idly by while Pepsi grows the Tropicana Twister label. They will develop a new label of their own to compete as only Coke knows how, and before long Tropicana Twister and Coke's entry, probably as a part of their Minute Maid subsidiary, will dominate the 64 oz. section of the juice aisle. CONTINUED
Beverage Digest reports poor first half for single serve juices
"Ocean Spray -- now warehouse-delivered since being dropped by Pepsi bottling system for Dole -- loses more than half its share and volume." Beverage Digest
9/5/01
Beverage Digest (Vol. 39, No. 6) reported that while in 2000 sales of
single serve juice drinks had gone up 11.8% from 1999's first half, in
the first half of 2001 they have gone up a mere 1.6%. Competition from
other beverages has been fierce, and according to a senior executive
mentioned in the Beverage Digest article, sales of bottled water is
having a great impact. CONTINUED
Editorials
Will good sense
prevail? 9/04/01 6
PM -- The word seems to be sinking in: selling Nantucket Nectars would
be a disaster to Ocean Spray. Stressline has information that
within the inner sanctum of top decision makers at Ocean Spray there is
considerable doubt about the wisdom of selling Nantucket Nectars. While
debate may be ongoing, Stressline sources suggest that the tide may be
turning and moving against a sale. We do not know if a final decision
has been made.
Some pros and cons of a
sale of Nectars to Coke 9/2/01
A sale of Nantucket Nectars seems inevitable, and Coke seems to be the
logical choice. Ocean Spray, by all back-room accounts, has exceeded
their credit limit and is being pressured by their bank to decrease
their debt load. Their only other choice to raise capital is
unacceptable: lowering returns to growers. Coke has been interested in
acquiring Ocean Spray for a couple of years, and now there is more
reason than ever for doing so, what with Pepsi's Tropicana doing so well
and soda sales being flat. CONTINUED
Editorial Changing the
Label of White Cranberry Juice 9/4/01: Unless they can prove there is a cultivar of fully ripened
white cranberries, Ocean Spray has to change the label of white cranberry juice
before it's too late. They have been walking with blinders on straight into a consumer
relations mine field. Worse, they will be treading into a gray area of business
ethics, and opening the door to FTC intervention on truth in
labeling violations. CONTINUED
In the
news: O.S. Press Release:
Caption -- "Each fall, cranberry growers head to the bogs to harvest crimson
red cranberries. For the first time ever, Ocean Spray growers are
harvesting a crop of white cranberries for a revolutionary new product.
Harvested just a few weeks earlier than red, white cranberries are
inherently lighter in color, in fact nearly white. White cranberries are
used to create a new line of products, Ocean Spray White Cranberry Juice
Drinks. With a less-tart taste than traditional cranberry juice, White
Cranberry Juice Drink will be available in West Coast and East Coast
markets this fall and on sale nationwide in January 2002" Go
to Story Some have argued that the rattlesnake is
not an appropriate symbol for farmers to unite under. We disagree, and
editorially remind readers that "the rattlesnake was the favorite animal
emblem of the Americans even before the Revolution. In 1751 Benjamin
Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette carried a bitter article
protesting the British practice of sending convicts to America. The
author suggested that the colonists return the favor by shipping 'a
cargo of rattlesnakes, which could be distributed in St. James Park,
Spring Garden, and other places of pleasure, and particularly in the
noblemen's gardens.' Three years later the same paper printed the
picture (as seen above) of a snake as a commentary on the Albany
Congress. To remind the delegates of the danger of disunity, the serpent
was shown cut to pieces. Each segment is marked with the name of a
colony, and the motto 'Join or Die' below. Other newspapers
took up the snake theme. By 1774 the
segments of the snake had grown together, and the motto had been changed
to read: 'United Now Alive and Free Firm on this Basis Liberty
Shall Stand and Thus Supported Ever Bless Our Land Till Time Becomes
Eternity' Other authors felt the
rattlesnake was a good example of America's virtues. They argued that it
is unique to America; individually its rattles produce no sound, but
united they can be heard by all; and while it does not attack unless
provoked, it is deadly to step upon one." (emphasis added) From www.usflag.org..
9/8/01 Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, white harvest:
"This
fruit is mature, if you open the white berries, they have brown seeds in
them, which is the sign that they're ripe." Lisa Potter 9/9/01
NY Times: Farm bill debate BREAKOUT 9/5/01 Trenton Times: Board member Stephen Lee, III
sets the record straight about white cranberries
in Cranberries
great white hope "We have a two-week window to harvest while the berries are
white," said Stephen V. Lee III of Lee Brothers. "The
cranberries naturally ripen from green to white to red and you want them
to be sweet enough." emphasis
added
Asbury Park
Press: Fruits
of Labor, on white harvest 9/1/01
Boston Herald: OS may sell Nectars Mauna
La'i: Ocean Spray's loss was their gain (search Patriot Ledger archives for 8/30/01).. Cranberry
Juice Conc. government bid invitations as of 8/24
Related: from 8/29 Coca-Cola
May Be Eying Nantucket Nectars Image scans from Ledger: Scan
1 | Scan 2 | Here's
one we missed from New Jersey | 8/22/01 Bitter
Protest - Cape Cod Times | Turnout
down, discontent up at growers' picnic - Patriot Ledger | Boston
Globe Article From Russia, with
cranberries 8/23/01 The Wimm-Bill-Dann
company is marketing a traditional Russian beverage in Russia and
Europe, called Mors, in
several cranberry flavors under the brand name Wonder Berry. According
to International Product Alert 17 No. 2 from the Marketing Intelligence
Services Ltd. it has also been launched in the United Kingdom. From their
web site www.wbd.com : Cranberry Mors
There's no worse stain than when it's on the reputation and credibility of a
trusted company
Press Release: The Cranberry Gets a Makeover; Ocean Spray to Harvest
First Crop of 'White Cranberries'
NEWS
not only quenches thirst, but also has healing properties. Cranberries
are rich with vitamins C, B6 and PP. The berries contain large
quantities of calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. Russians
used cranberry mors to treat cold and flu symptoms and rheumatism and
to reduce fevers.
Cranberry and Raspberry Mors combines the salubrious properties of two wonderful berries, which are sources of both refreshing sweetness and medicinal vitamins. Raspberries are rich in fructose and vitamin C, and help combat the effects of arteriosclerosis. In pre-Peter the Great times, Russians drank instead of tea either a stewed fruit concoction or mors made from cranberries and raspberries.
Cranberry and Wild Strawberry Mors is remarkably tasty and aromatic. Wild strawberries are included among ingredients used to make this beverage. Wild strawberries were considered "especially effective in easing heart pain caused by agitation or stress." This medicinal property was attributed to wild strawberries because of the physical likeness a strawberry bears in shape to the heart. Wild strawberries are rich in vitamins C, P, B and PP, and are considered the most fragrant of berries.
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