Hawaiian Punch Background

Hawaiian Punch

Promotional Plans

Lauren Peretti

Research elements

Hawaiian Punch background

In 1934, A. W. Leo, Tom Yates and Ralph Harrison developed Leo's Hawaiian Punch, a blend of fruits such as pineapple, passion fruit, papaya and guava, to add to their line of ice cream toppings sold under the Pacific Citrus Products Company. In 1946, the company was bought and renamed Pacific Hawaiian Product Company, and introduced quart-sized bottles of concentrate for sale, and later manufactured ready-to-serve red Hawaiian Punch in 46-ounce cans in the 1950s. In 1955, frozen concentrate was distributed to grocery stores and Hawaiian Punch became a national brand. Soon after "Punchy," the mascot, was introduced, and the companies brand image and advertising identified it a successful product (Kerin, 2007).

Over the next 30 years, Hawaiian Punch was bought out by RJ Reynolds (RJR) Company, Del Monte, who expanded distribution channels and introduced new flavors, Proctor and Gamble, who established the gallon bottle as a leading juice drink package and distributed at supermarkets and retail outlets via its bottle network in the carbonated drink aisle and independent food broker and warehouse networks in the juice aisle, and lastly Cadbury Schweppes, PLC (Kerin, 2007).

In 2004, three Cadbury Schweppes, PLC business units--Dr Pepper/Seven Up; Snapple Beverage Group; and Mott's--integrated to form Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages (Kerin, 2007). At the time, the Hawaiian Punch line consisted of 11 flavors and packaging included a 1-gallon bottle, a half-gallon bottle, a 2-liter bottle, a 20-ounce bottle, a 6.75-ounce single-serve standup pouch, and a 12-ounce can. Hawaiian Punch Lite had also recently been introduced and contained 60 percent less sugar (Kerin, 2007).

Fruit juice market

Labeled a juice drink, Hawaiian Punch is manufactured with fresh juice or concentrate, not exceeding 24 percent, to which sweetener and water are added. Juice drinks are second to the 100 percent juice category with 33.7 percent share, and are shelf-stable, requiring no refrigeration. Retail distribution is sold through supermarkets, trade sales (e.g. restaurants, foodservice companies and institutional buyers), convenience stores, discounters, independent food retailers and vending machines. Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages juice drink competitors include The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Inc. Kraft Food, Inc., Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Sunny Delight Beverage Company, Welch's, Inc., and Nestle USA (Kerin, 2007).