Ms. Jesdakorn Ghosh, Senior Vice President of Thai Drinks Co., Ltd., said, "Over the past few years, est Play has engaged more new-generation fans while bringing cola drinkers over to the flavored CSD market, currently worth 15 billion baht, through our concept 'Mischievous Fun' communications message. est Play is Thailand's first brand to offer the market a uniquely innovative fizzy soft drink that combines two harmonious fruit flavors. est Play has a proven track record of increasing its popularity every year, notably with 'est Play Grapeberry,' est Play's best-seller with the strongest 2-digit sales growth in the Flavored CSD market. This defies the market trend, which actually showed negative growth of -8.9%. The success of 'est Play Grapeberry' significantly helped to drive 11.6% sales growth of est Play."
"In terms of brand health, est Play scored higher in all areas, including 'frequent drink score' increasing from 28 to 53, 'brand for the new generation' increasing from 53 to 62, and 'outstanding brand with innovation' increasing from 47 to 63," she added.
Shaking up the CSD market with four marketing strategies
Building on this success, est Play is implementing four marketing strategies that are expected to drive the overall Flavored CSD market while strengthening the est Play brand to ensure its position as the teens' favorite from now through 2018. These strategies include:
1) Refreshing the est brand image by adjusting the logo design to differentiate it from est cola, and making the package more attractive to reflect the fun character of youth based on the "Serious Play" concept.
2) An innovative "drinking bingsu" to further differentiate the segment and follow the trend of Korean shaved ice desserts, which are a hit among Thai teens. They can enjoy two mellow, fizzy, and refreshing flavors – est Play Melon Bingsu and est Play Mango Bingsu.
3) Introducing the first est Play presenters, Ten and Taeyoung of NCT, a boy group with fun and playful characters from S.M. Entertainment. NCT is very popular among Thai youth, with a large fan base of enthusiastic followers. Ten and Taeyoung will help to build brand image and awareness for est Play, along with the two new flavors. Their introduction is supported by the launch of a limited-edition 515 ml. package featuring Ten and Taeyhoung's images on the full wrapper, which will be available until early 2018.
4) Allocating a 100% increase for its online marketing communications budget to drive online conversation through a Bingsu Freeze Magic activity, and offering the fizziest and coolest experience with est Play Bingsu through a unique activity set to launch in December.
"We believe these four strategies, plus our 150-million-baht investment in supporting media and 360-degree marketing activities, will drive the overall Flavored CSD market and strengthen the est Play brand to maintain our position as a highly popular soft drink among teens. This will help us to achieve 2-digit sales growth by 2018," concluded Ms. Jesdakorn.