Dabur may relaunch Real Junior

Dabur Foods, a 100 per cent subsidiary of FMCG company Dabur India, is looking at relaunching 'Real Junior', the fruit juice brand targeted at junior school-children.

The company is targeting 'Real Junior' presence inside more than 200 school canteens in the form of small kiosks or simply counter presence.

The schools targeted, initially, would be in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, among others.

It is also reworking the entire composition of the drink as well as exploring innovative packaging possibilities. The company would also sponsor school-level competitions like painting, etc, as well as give out leaflets and fruit calendars to recreate a brand recall.

"We had launched the brand 2 years ago but it's contribution to our overall business has been very negligible, reason why we are looking at reworking the brand and create an existence for it. Typically it takes about 2 years and approximately Rs 3-5 crore to rebuild a brand," said Sanjay Sharma, general manager - sales and marketing, Dabur Foods.

"Now that we are relaunching it, we would first rework the entire composition of the drink. We have to prepare a fruit-juice that is low on sugar and does not cause acidity. We would also repackage it to give it a more compatible look and feel so that children come back for more," Sharma said.

"We would also look at cross-promotions with the Rs 175 crore Dabur 'Real' mother brand, especially now when it has been established with a 57 per cent market share in the fruit juice category," said Sharma.

The problem with Real Junior at the time of launch, said Sharma, was more than one.

First, it was promoted as a fruit juice rich in calcium, which did not sell.

"A fruit juice, is after all, a fruit juice, and branding it calcium-rich did not gel well," Sharma said.

Moreover, it was made available in tetrapacks of 125 ml for Rs 10, because that was the quantity Dabur conceived children would be able to finish in one go.

So, although the pack size was smaller, packaging costs did not come down and therefore a lower pricing did not bring in revenues," he said.

Moreover, other fruit-juices were also available for the same price and pack size, so people did not find much of a reason to switch to Real Junior.

Real Junior was created to segment the market and we would be looking at further segmentation within the fruit juice category itself on the basis of individual preferences instead of taking up a mass market approach. This helps, as whenever a brand creates product segmentation, it invariably ensures about 10 per cent growth for the category," Sharma claimed.

Dabur Foods is expecting to close this fiscal at Rs 250 crore and eyes Rs 500 crore turnover by 2010.

Over the past 10 years, Real has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33 per cent. The company now plans to focus over the next three years on achieving CAGR of 25 per cent, thus increasing turnover from the brand to Rs 500 crore by 2010.