Virgin picks YHS for launch of Colours

SINGAPORE: Virgin Drinks has chosen Yeo Hiap Seng (YHS) to handle bottling, distribution and marketing for its Virgin Colours soft drinks range due to launch in Singapore later this month. The local beverage company took on the franchise partly because Virgin Colours is a strong brand, which it can use to woo kids, mostly 10 to 16 year olds, and take market share from Coca-Cola's F&N flavoured drinks range. Elaine Ng, YHS trade marketing and brand manager, said: "Virgin Colours is a little bit different to other brands and will create some excitement in a segment of the soft drink market which until now has been quite plain and boring." Virgin Colours will come in curvy bottles with four flavours to choose from - Virgin Purple (berry fruits), Virgin Cool Blue (tutti-frutti), Virgin Yellow (passion fruit) and Virgin Ruby (cranberry). Ng said there were no plans to launch Virgin Cola as YHS has the Pepsi-Cola franchise in Singapore. Tequila is handling advertising for Virgin Colours, which was launched to the trade on October 11. Virgin Drinks is already in Bangladesh, Japan and Taiwan making Singapore its fourth Asian market. It plans to expand further in the region by launching into Hong Kong, China and South Korea. Coca-Cola has generally focused on its power brands - Coca Cola, Sprite and Lift - in Singapore, with relatively little spend going on marketing the F&N brand. But coincidentally, Coca-Cola's ad agency McCann-Erickson is currently working on a campaign for F&N. Singapore is the regional headquarters for the Virgin Group, which is launching several other businesses in Asia, including Virgin Mobile and Virgin Radio.

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