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
 

"This new product has taken about two years to develop. The white cranberry is not fully ripened, so it gives it a much milder and smoother taste, which we think families will enjoy." Sarah Johnson, general manager for Ocean Spray in the UK and Ireland, from "Ocean Spray trials white berry juice," in  Marketing Week, Sept 6, 2001, v24 i29 p8.


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.''

See www.mountaindew.com 

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


There's no worse stain than when it's on the reputation and credibility of a trusted company

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: 

Press Release: The Cranberry Gets a Makeover; Ocean Spray to Harvest First Crop of 'White Cranberries'

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


View cartoon

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
NEWS

 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 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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