Yoo-hoo's new look targets teens, young adults

Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Beverage Corp. (Carlstadt, NJ) has revamped packaging for its popular Yoo-hoo drink line.

"To boost sales of single-serve bottle units, Yoo-hoo's 15.5-oz chocolate, strawberry, and chocolate-banana products are now packaged in bottles featuring shrink-wrap sleeves with bolder graphics and an interactive see-through gauge," says brand manager Nancy Henry.

The see-through gauge stripe of the full-body sleeve label runs vertically down one side of the glass bottle, enabling consumers to view the container contents and fill level. The glass bottles are topped with color-coded, tamper-evident metal twist closures. The same packaging design is being incorporated for 9-oz and 11-oz product sizes. Yoo-hoo's shrink sleeve labels are supplied by Coastal Sleeve Label Inc. (Brunswick, GA).

Henry notes, "We are undertaking this program to call new attention to Yoo-hoo in an eye-catching way, not only to invigorate our loyal customers, but to make the product leap out of the coolers and off the shelves to grab non-users as well. Teens are the largest consumers of beverages in the U.S. Therefore, we need to capitalize on Yoo-hoo's image as a drink that appeals to their sense of coolness and hipness. The new packaging is designed to update Yoo-hoo as the type of unique, alternative beverage teens prefer."

The beverage processor worked with the New York design firm Landor Associates to develop the new package look. Landor's creative director Richard Brandt says the new graphics, which feature an oversized logo on a bright yellow field, "scream with freshness and vitality."

New Yoo-hoo point-of-purchase support materials, developed by Newday Communications (South Norwalk, CT), will be distributed in supermarkets and convenience stores where the beverage is marketed. The brand reportedly already has a 75% market share in the shelf-stable chocolate drink category.

Brian O'Byrne, Yoo-hoo's managing director, reports the new packaging has been in test markets in California convenience stores during the last few months. "Results there have exceeded our expectations. Merchants tell us the packaging is the perfect extension of what consumers perceive as the brand's fun, quirky p季rsonality."

For more info: Teresa Stabile, Austin Nichols & Co. Inc., Soft Drink Div. Tel: 212-455-9446; Fax: 212-455-9423; E-Mail: Tstabile@austin-nichols.com.

For more info about shrink sleeve labels: Craig Clark, VP of sales, Coastal Sleeve Label Inc. Tel: 847-458-6762 or www.csl-sleeve.com.

Edited by Judy Rice,
Managing Editor, Beverage Online