The café culture craze has spilled into the drinks industry through the launch of an iced cappuccino with a vodka kick.
Halewood International, owner of Lambrini and Red Square vodka, has created Café Kiss, an iced coffee with a 'kiss' of Red Square vodka in a widget-activated can to create a frothy head.
The 5% abv drink, priced at £1.59 per can or £4.49 for a pack of three, will be primarily aimed at female consumers.
"To attract more consumers we have to be innovative and we have to be first to market," said head of marketing Richard Clark. "We are not turning our backs on the traditional ready-to-drink market as we are still investing in our existing brands, but we see a market for pre-mixed occasional drinks for women aged 25 to 45."
The drink has already been trialled in Manchester and further sampling activity across the UK will follow as part of a £1.2m marketing spend over the next 12 months. Café Kiss will go on shelf in Tesco and Threshers nationally from May 11.
The dairy-based RTD and cream liqueur category has seen mixed fortunes of late. It continues to be led by Baileys, but brand owner Diageo scrapped RTD extension Baileys Glide in 2004 due to disappointing sales.
Halewood's Lambrini Cream got off to a good start following last year's launch and Jago Vodka cream liqueur - now two years old - has also been performing well, according to supermarket buyers for this category.
Clark noted that sales of vodka were doing well and this, combined with the growing café culture trend, would help make the drink a success. "We have spent a lot of time getting Café Kiss right," he said.
Halewood International, owner of Lambrini and Red Square vodka, has created Café Kiss, an iced coffee with a 'kiss' of Red Square vodka in a widget-activated can to create a frothy head.
The 5% abv drink, priced at £1.59 per can or £4.49 for a pack of three, will be primarily aimed at female consumers.
"To attract more consumers we have to be innovative and we have to be first to market," said head of marketing Richard Clark. "We are not turning our backs on the traditional ready-to-drink market as we are still investing in our existing brands, but we see a market for pre-mixed occasional drinks for women aged 25 to 45."
The drink has already been trialled in Manchester and further sampling activity across the UK will follow as part of a £1.2m marketing spend over the next 12 months. Café Kiss will go on shelf in Tesco and Threshers nationally from May 11.
The dairy-based RTD and cream liqueur category has seen mixed fortunes of late. It continues to be led by Baileys, but brand owner Diageo scrapped RTD extension Baileys Glide in 2004 due to disappointing sales.
Halewood's Lambrini Cream got off to a good start following last year's launch and Jago Vodka cream liqueur - now two years old - has also been performing well, according to supermarket buyers for this category.
Clark noted that sales of vodka were doing well and this, combined with the growing café culture trend, would help make the drink a success. "We have spent a lot of time getting Café Kiss right," he said.
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