Mrs. Jesdakorn Ghosh, Senior Vice President - Marketing, Oishi Group Pcl., said, "Oishi clearly recognizes the importance of introducing product innovations, which have played an integral part in Oishi's success and leadership in the RTD tea market, with our brand holding 43% market share during January to October 2016. 'Oishi Kyoho Grape with Nata de Coco' green tea has driven the growth of the fruit green tea segment, which has now reached a total value of 2,160 million baht. Aggressive digital marketing strategies have also become a driving force behind market growth. According to a recent brand health survey, the Oishi brand gained a higher score in the categories of 'suitable for teens' and 'innovative,' which significantly increased to 79% and 84% respectively.
"To sustain its success in the fruit tea segment, in the final quarter of 2016, Oishi will strengthen its leadership with another product innovation for the RTD green tea market with the launch of Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor green tea. It offers an unprecedented blend of mild-scented sakura and sweet strawberry flavor in the same bottle, and will stand out even more with breakthrough packaging featuring a cold-activated bottle, to boost up the RTD tea market at year-end," she added.
New Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor green tea is the latest product innovation that will create a huge impact on the RTD tea market. With selected young green tea leaves mixed with mild-scented sakura and a sweet and soothing strawberry flavor, this refreshing drink in the bright blue bottle is ideal for livening things up. A unique highlight of Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor green tea is that the sakura label on the bottle changes color. Using Thermochromic Shrink Label technology, which changes color to reflect changes in temperature, the white sakura label will turn bright pink when it's cold.
While new Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor green tea is available in both 380-ml and 500-ml bottles, there is a limited supply of bottles with the color-changing label and they are only available immediately following the launch. The new product, which began rolling out distribution in November, has received an impressive initial response. Consumers are intrigued by the advanced color-changing technology used for the label, and it has become talk-of-the-town on social media.
To encourage Thai consumers to fully enjoy the Japanese-style experience of sakura (cherry blossom) and create excitement about the new product launch, Oishi is investing 70-million baht in a range of marketing communications activities. A key activity is the "Live Operation" on the Oishi Facebook page to forecast the time of the color change for virtual sakura, which takes place on December 21, 2016. Many consumers nationwide are expected to take part in predicting the cherry blossom schedule and participants can win one of several prizes. At the same time, Oishi will introduce a new feature to the Oishi mobile application that will amaze everyone with graphical sakura flowers that appear to pop out of people's mouth, ears, and eyes. This application will be especially cool and trendy with young-generation consumers.
"In 2017, we anticipate the fruit green tea segment will continue to outshine the others with consistent growth. Oishi is confident that our product innovations, in this case, 'Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor' green tea, will easily become one of the top flavors that helps accelerate the growth of the RTD tea market while reinforcing Oishi brand leadership," concluded Mrs.Jesdakorn.