Dive Brief:
- The battle over beverages is no longer limited to big brands of soda--it now includes flavored waters.
- The success of flavored waters with no calories, like Sparkling Ice, contributed to the declining sales of diet sodas: Last year, Diet Coke's sales volume went down 6.8% and Diet Pepsi's declined 6.9%.
- Now the big soda names are getting into the flavored sparkling water game, with Coke introducing Fruitwater last year and Pepsi offering Aquafina FlavorSplash.
Dive Insight:
Sparkling Ice drinks, which are labeled as "Naturally Flavored Sparkling Mountain Spring Water," come in a variety of fruity flavors. Last year its sales more than doubled to $302.4 million from the previous year, a huge gain over 2009 when sales were just $2.7 million. Smaller brands, like Skinny Girl, have also entered this market, making it a pretty well-defined trend for the beverage sector.