Sugar reduction has long been a concern across the juice category, and after a quiet launch late last year, Ocean Spray’s Revl Fruits believes it has come up with a recipe for success.
In a bid to rejuvenate the shelf-stable premium juice category Revl Fruits is scaling up through new retail partnerships with Target, Kroger and Publix – bringing its nationwide door count from 500 to nearly 5,000 – for its 4-SKU line of 100% juice products in Tetra Pak cartons.
According to Christina Zwicky, head of Revl Fruits and Ocean Spray Innovation Ecosystem, the brand has been highly selective in choosing its initial retailers.
“The expectation that we did this perfect day zero unrealistic. So we’re going to learn where we are, where we are most likely win, iterate and then continue to scale this brand into more channels across more usage occasions,” said Zwicky.
Launched in December 2023 as part of Ocean Spray’s Innovation Ecosystem to “fill a gap in the joy market,” Revl Fruits comes in Berry Wild, Truly Tropical, Tart Cherry and Boldly Cran varieties. The beverages are crafted with 100% juice and a splash of coconut water and, according to the brand, contain 25% less sugar than the leading 100% juice. Based off of their respective nutrition labels, unlike some of Ocean Spray’s 100% juice blends, Revl Fruits is free of fumaric acid and gums. Revl has a SRP of $4 to $8 per 32 oz. carton.
Ocean Spray’s Innovation Ecosystem – which is focused on transformational growth strategies for the cooperative – replaces the company’s now-defunct Lighthouse Incubator program. Founded in 2019, Lighthouse was behind the creation of brands like hemp-infused sparkling water CarryOn and plant-based drink Atoka, both of which have since been discontinued.
In hopes of further shaking up the premium juice landscape, Revl teamed up with Tetra Pak. More than 70% of the weight of the company’s cartons consists of paperboard and its cap is constructed with bio-based plastic derived from plant-based renewable materials.
According to Zwicky, the partnership was born out of a conversation between the two companies at Expo West two years ago. She said that Tetra Pak had showcased a product that met “exactly” where the not-yet-launched Revl, its target consumer, and its proposition needed to go.
“When you go into the aisle today, everything is [packaged in] glass or plastic; nothing has opacity the way our carton does. Nothing is square,” said Zwicky. “To have a belief system that you could deliver extraordinary visuals from a branding standpoint and meet consumer needs while disrupting packaging structure was the biggest bet we could have possibly made.”
Revl is confident that its vibrantly colored, sustainability-forward packaging will help disrupt the current conversation around the premium juice category and serve as a catalyst for a shift to plant-based materials, recyclability and bio-based plastics.
As for whether Ocean Spray would ever consider swapping its more conventional products into Tetra Pak cartons, never say never.
“Revl Fruits represents broadly just part of the overall cooperative strategy which is continuing to diversify our packaging portfolio,” said Zwicky. “We’re constantly trying to look at ways that we can bring Tetra Pak into different packaging formats, groups and products within our portfolio but it starts here with Revl.”
The introduction of Revl is part of Ocean Spray’s greater push to create more health-conscious options for the modern consumer as concerns over sugar content threaten to remove the juice category’s health halo. Earlier this year, the Massachusetts-based cooperative launched a line of Zero Sugar juice drinks in Cranberry and Mixed Berry varieties.
According to a report by market researcher IMARC Group, the North American fruit juice market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7%, reaching $50 billion by 2028. Focused on the premium, better-for-you segment of the market, Revl addresses the white space Ocean Spray saw within its own portfolio while bridging the premium juice gap between taste, value, and sustainability.
Looking ahead, Revl will spend the remainder of 2024 shifting away from sales mode and into marketing mode, focusing on the consumer. Over the next six months, said Zwicky, the brand will activate “a few” campaign ideas that will continue the thread of sparking joy while disrupting the status quo of the market.
“We see an opportunity to bring joy and a totally refreshed point of view on health, flavor and sustainability into a set that has been stagnant for a really long time. I’m extraordinarily enthusiastic about creating those one-on-one conversations,” she said.