Stained teeth, sugar highs, weight gain and many more health issues. These are the things that we’ve come to associate with soda drinks, and little to nothing has been done to change this perception, until now that is.
After years of muted innovation and a lack of responding to changing consumer needs, the carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) sector has a new player, and they’re set on developing products solely designed to answer consumer needs. Their name is the Pura Beverage Company and they define their modern take on soda as “evolved refreshment, offering all the taste and refreshment of soft drinks, with none of the bad stuff”.
“We saw a significant opportunity gap between what consumers were wanting and what the market was offering,” says Greig Jansen, founder and CEO of the Pura Beverage Company. “We saw people wanting to be healthier and to consume more natural products, but still wanting the taste and refreshment that the traditional sodas offered. More so, the consumer wanted access to this product at an everyday price.”
With carbonated beverages making up the biggest percentage in the beverage market, there’s certainly a lot of competition but very little in the rapidly growing “evolved refreshment” space.
“As a start-up, we’re in a very different position to our big competitors,” explains Jansen, “we have modest budgets, but we are pioneers with the ability to be nimble and agile. The big soda giants have years of experience, but Pura Beverage Company has the ability to innovate quickly, get things done faster and give the ever-evolving consumer exactly what they want.”
Better-for-you alternatives have often resulted in taste and refreshment being compromised or price being extortionate. However, Pura Soda has addressed this, with a successful formula that is proving to be a winner with consumers, as well as the retail trade wanting innovation and growth.
Pura Soda has just five ingredients, with a smidgen of pure cane sugar (that is below the sugar tax threshold) to enhance the natural flavours. For example, Cucumber and Lime is a heady mix of the General Lee Cucumber from Florida and limes from either Peru or Mexico. It also has no colourants – for proof, the 500 ml 100% recyclable plastic bottle is totally clear, and one can look straight through it.
Having a great product is a good start, but so much more is required. Pura Soda believes they’ve got an edge over their competitors with a brand with a clear purpose.
“We’ve all got #healthylifegoals, but they’re way easier to set than achieve. What if there was a fun, simple way to live a little healthier? Quench your thirst a little better? What if all it took was a deliciously refreshing one-of-a-kind soda. We believe that Pura Soda offers the answer. We are already experiencing strong growth by doing this, and we will continue to tap into the consumer’s truth and serve them accordingly,” say Jansen.
The approach seems to be working. Despite only starting up only two years ago, the brand is already stocked nationwide and is available online from Yuppiechef and Buy Fresh.
Jansen and his team practice breakthrough thinking and the belief in the art of possibility as their methods to success so far. It is this thinking that will continue to drive their insatiable goal to give consumers exactly what they want and at the same time consistently adjust the perception of soda and the business behind it.
