Dairy Crest launches reduced sugar FRijj to 'recruit' health-conscious shoppers
Each 471ml bottle of FRijj 40% Less Sugar, which is available in Choc-a-Chocolate and Seriously Strawberry variations, contains 40% less sugar than Dairy Crest’s existing chocolate and strawberry flavoured FRijj.
Dairy Crest developed FRijj 40% Less Sugar, which feature a "refreshed" blue FRijj logo, in response to consumer research that found sugar content was a purchase barrier for around 30% of British dairy drink buyers.
With its FRijj brand extension, Dairy Crest hopes to attract more than half a million new households to the dairy drinks category.
“FRijj 40% Less Sugar has been created for dairy drinks shoppers who are interested in managing the level of sugar in their diet,” a Dairy Crest spokesperson told DairyReporter.com.
“These individuals may include parents who are buying dairy drinks for their own consumption or for that of their children.”
"Recruit" households
The FRijj brand extension is in line with Dairy Crest's July 2014 Dairy for Life three-year growth strategy, in which it highlighted five macro opportunities for category growth.
Among the five was 'Care for Me and My Family', which focused on providing "healthier great tasting dairy-based drinks that can help families to enjoy a balanced lifestyle.”
"FRijj 40% less sugar will aid to make dairy drinks more permissible to consumers, encouraging them to buy into the dairy drinks category more often," said the Dairy Crest spokesperson.
Despite turning to FRijj 40% Less Sugar to "recruit" new British households, Dairy Crest does not intend to bin those FRijj products with a higher sugar content.
“It is important to offer consumers a variety of options to fulfil their buying needs," the Dairy Crest spokesperson continued.
"With this in mind, there are no current plans to discontinue the current FRijj range at present.”
Dairy Crest also confirmed that its extension of FRijj range was decided on long before it agreed to sell the brand.
The FRijj brand, currently valued at more than £55m, is among the assets Dairy Crest agreed to sell to Müller UK & Ireland for £80m in November 2014.
Dairy Crest expects the deal, which includes the sale of its fresh milk business, to close later this year.
