With all the pontificating about the performance of traditional PepsiCo beverage brands such as Pepsi, it's easy to lose sight of a bright spot shining forth from the company's voluminous beverage portfolio, and one emanating from its controversial stable of better-for-you products as well: Trop50.

The low-calorie juice brand, sweetened with stevia and marketed in a campaign featuring 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski that originated in Canada, is headed to $300 million a year in sales after only three years on the market — a pittance, revenue-wise, compared with conventional orange juice, where PepsiCo's Tropicana brand is one of the leaders. But it's been an impressive ramp-up for a new product in a mature segment where all sorts of things have been tried before.

"We went after a segment who love the goodness of juice without also limiting calorie consumption," Kate Keller, Trop50's director of marketing, told brandchannel. "And they don't want to sacrifice the great taste of juice. They're getting the goodness of juice and taste and sugar at half the sugar and calories — it's pretty simple for them."Continue reading...

Huge and privately held, Minnesota-based Cargill used to be one of the biggest companies you’d never heard of.

The $108-billion grain-processing giant has its finger in food commodities all over the world, It’s a huge presence in ingredients for better-for-you foods and beverages, and it occasionally ticks off environmentalists over sustainability issues. But Cargill wasn’t known for building consumer brands.

Until now. With some practice on its Coro Wise sterols that are an ingredient in cholesterol-lowering foods such as Minute Maid Heart Wise orange juice, Cargill has hit a brand-building home run as a rookie at the practice.

Its Truvia “natural” sweetener, made from the stevia bush native to South America, has surpassed venerable Sweet ‘N Low as the No. 2 sugar substitute in the country, according to AC Nielsen.Continue reading...

Just a few years after making its appearance in all-natural beverages and other “foodie” items, stevia-based products are stepping up their bid for a bigger share of the sugar-substitute market that has been dominated for a decade by Splenda.

Just as the battle over high-fructose corn syrup and sugar — and America's battle with obesity — heats up, Cargill’s Truvia brand has launched a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign with the tagline "Honestly Sweet" and plans to take the no-calorie sweetener brand’s relationship with consumers to the next level, from mere awareness to an emotional connection.Continue reading...