Earlier this year, Fever-Tree announced it would transition to a new operating model in the Australian market, bringing its distribution, sales and marketing operations in-house.
This new direction enables the brand to build on the solid platform it has built in Australia, fuelling further growth opportunities for Fever-Tree and its trade partners.
Andy Gaunt, Managing Director for Fever-Tree Australia/New Zealand, said: “Ultimately, we won’t be changing anything for our customers and consumers – we will continue driving brand strategy and perspective. Our main objective is to give people the option of a better tasting drink, and that will always remain important.”
In recent months, Fever-Tree has built out its new and diverse team of industry professionals, with the help of dedicated drinks recruiter BrightSide.
“The fresh new team brings passion and dedication and enables additional support to be given to our current partners who have worked with us to write the Fever-Tree story thus far. This gives Fever-Tree the ability to build and maintain richer, deeper, collaborative partnerships with a team solely focused on the premiumisation of mixers and adult drinks,” said Gaunt.
“The new team members bring different experiences from all over the drinks industry and collectively share the vision of Fever-Tree to create better tasting drinks. They are able to understand and translate this message through a collaborative environment.
“Australia is a unique market, given mixers are traditionally shopped through grocery channels that don’t stock alcohol. Our structure has been built to provide experts focused on the liquor channel through the on-premise and off-premise, with a sales function supported by shopper and sales, and including logistics and supply.”
Fever-Tree’s new direction also includes a commercial partnership with Remedy Drinks. Gaunt called this a “perfect pairing”, melding Remedy’s capabilities and expertise in the grocery channel with Fever-Tree’s leadership in the liquor industry. The partnership is set to unlock mutual growth for the companies as they focus on delivering premium mixer options for their similar sets of shoppers.
All of this comes at a key moment in the Australian market right now. The overall premium mixer segment is an important one locally right now, as consumers keep learning how to embrace more discerning mixed drink choices. With its new direction, Fever-Tree is set to continue its key role as a category leader that drives this journey.
“Premium mixers are still emerging within a category dominated by mainstream international soft drink companies and home brands. But they are experiencing growth even in challenging times, especially as we see more consumption across mixed drinks, so we see an incredibly exciting future to provide choices in mixers across all variations – from carbonated sodas and tonics to non-carbonated mixers with cocktail ‘ready to mix’ options,” Gaunt said.
Consumption trends support this future potential – long and refreshing, easy to make cocktails are seeing strong growth amongst consumers both in venues and at home.
“As we emerge out of three years of the pandemic, we’re excited about the opportunities to partner in the on-premise and off-premise to support the consumer demand to drink better quality mixed drinks,” Gaunt said.
“Our role at Fever-Tree as the number one pioneering mixer company globally, will look to lead the development and premiumisation of mixers within Australia.”
For any questions or enquiries about Fever-Tree and its new direction, please contact Trade Marketing Manager, Steve Carr, at Steve.Carr@fever-tree.com .