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SunkistThe Story of Sunkist Orange Soda
The Sunkist Growers Association has marketed the Sunkist trademark for more than 95 years. It is one of the best-known trademarks in the world. Use of the Sunkist trademark has been extended across numerous product lines, including fruit snacks, fruit drinks, fruit juices, baked goods, frozen novelties, vitamins and carbonated beverages.
General Cinema Corporation, a large theater operator and soft drink bottler, licensed the use of the Sunkist trademark in a soft drink. The new Sunkist orange soda went into test markets in 1978. The product was so well received by consumers that it was launched nationally in 1979. Soon, Sunkist became the best-selling orange soft drink and sales continued to climb. By 1981, Sunkist was one of the top 10 soft drinks, a first for any orange soda.
The mid-1980s marked many changes for the brand. Sunkist experienced two ownership and product formulation changes, as well as increased competition in the orange segment. During this time, Sunkist dropped to third behind Slice® and Minute Maid®.
In 1986, Cadbury Schweppes plc acquired the Sunkist orange soda license from Del Monte. Under Cadbury, the Sunkist brand has expanded to include diet orange, lemonade, diet lemonade, strawberry, grape, pineapple, peach and fruit punch. In addition to the new flavors, Cadbury set to work optimizing both the Sunkist advertising and the appeal of the packaging. This culminated in new Sunkist packaging graphics launched in 1998. Shortly thereafter, Sunkist reclaimed its position as the No. 1 orange soda in all ACNielsen measured channels – a distinction it still enjoys.
Sunkist maintains a high level of brand awareness with consumers and is often named as consumers’ favorite orange soda. The current tagline is “Feel All Orange Inside.” Today, the leader in the orange soda market continues under the ownership of Plano, Texas-based Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages (CSAB), a subsidiary division of Cadbury Schweppes plc (NYSE:CSG). CSAB is one of the largest producers of soft drinks and premium beverages in the Americas.
What’s in a name? A copywriter from the Lord & Thomas agency coined the name “Sunkissed” for an advertising campaign promoting the Southern California Fruit Exchange. Shortly afterwards, the spelling was changed to “Sunkist” and adopted as the exchange’s trademark in 1908. |
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