Mexican Oranges in Pure-Pak

Natural' es is now the biggest selling brand within the orange juice category across Mexico, and its packaging provided key marketing benefits that were important to Lala.

13/07/07 Packaging the 'everyday' natural goodness

Mexicans love orange juice. Homemade juice constitutes 70% of the market. Traditionally, families have squeezed their own oranges in the home, with packaged products only taking second place in Mexican's orange juice hearts - that is until now.

Finding a new place in Mexican hearts and homes today is Natural' es, a premium product from Lala and Mexico's original fresh, chilled orange juice - the first with that 'just-squeezed', homemade taste.

Lala's brand manager for juices, beverages and children's products, Jorge Martinez Ruiz explains, "With this product we were targeting mainly the homemade market, but it also appears that we are recruiting consumers from the existing packaged market.

How we presented this product to the housewife in the store, and its usage in the home, were both very important."

Another entrance barrier to juice in Mexico is the highly fragmented nature of retailing, which consists of a large number of small independent food stores and a growing number of convenience stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets. The traditional owner operated, 'Mom and Pop' neighbourhood store with a single counter and shopkeeper has remained popular with the Mexican housewife, continuing to be the preferred outlet for products like bread, milk and orange juice. Reaching small independent food stores requires a large distribution force, together with processing and packaging that can protect and maximize shelf-life, whilst at the same time maintaining a 'housewife-friendly' price - all crucial factors for orange juice producers.

Positive Pure-Pak image

Extensive consumer research was carried out by Lala to select the right packaging solution for Natural' es. The results indicated that the consumer had good positive connotations which associated the Pure-Pak® carton with fresh dairy products.

However a clear trend pointed to a link between PET bottles and products that claim to be fresh orange juice, because bottles have a very modern and very expensive image.

With Natural' es, Lala had created a product that needed to be positioned as a fresh, quality, not-from-concentrate juice, but at the same time, required promotion as an 'everyday', traditional product that forms part of the typical Mexican lifestyle.

Jorge Martinez continues, "Our research also told us that juice in PET bottles, particularly those with wrap around sleeves are perceived by the average Mexican housewife to be very expensive and find it difficult to relate to them as daily products. The image we were looking for as the basis of the Natural'es brand had to be an affordable one that would appeal to a wider audience. We wanted the brand to be accepted as a quality, 'everyday' juice.

"As the majority of fresh milk in Mexico is packaged in gable top cartons, Pure-Pak was already a familiar package on Mexican store shelves. Consumer perceptions of the Pure-Pak® are that it must contain a natural, quality and essential daily product. Our research discovered that the plastic PET bottle is associated with more processed, synthetic and manufactured products, and in this respect paperboard packaging is the only package that can support a natural product such as Natural' es."

Natural' es was launched in the one-liter Standard Pure-Pak Classic carton in late 2004 and in 2005 distribution extended into Torreón, Mazatlán, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Acapulco, and Veracruz. Lala pasteurizes and packages the juice - made from all Mexican oranges - in Torreón, Monterrey and Mexico City. It is distributed through the same cold chain as Lala's popular dairy products. The Pure-Pak cartons are produced by Envases-Elopak in Durango and filled on Pure-Pak P-S70 machines.

Creating a new category

Since its launch, Natural' es has created a totally new market category, whilst taking 10% of the total juice market and 30% of the orange juice market in Mexico. Héctor Guerrero is Director of Envases Elopak in Mexico and he confirms, "The strategy of Lala was both specific and intelligent. This is a very unique product which had to be exactly right for its audience. Lala had to produce the best quality juice that really tasted like homemade - and they succeeded by using only the highest quality oranges - in fact it tastes even better than homemade! The proof is in the monthly sales of 1.6 million liters, achieved in the most part by the instant loyalty of consumers. The first time they taste Natural' es they are hooked!"

Natural' es is now the biggest selling brand within the orange juice category across Mexico, and its packaging provided key marketing benefits that were important to Lala. Jorge Martinez explains, "When you compare cartons with bottles, the shape of the gable top is much better for merchandising, the print area is bigger which enables the product and the branding to achieve more impact on the shelf. The housewife prefers the carton, it's a more convenient shape and size to store in the refrigerator, with a more reliable closure, and that gives them instant confidence to buy the product."