PepsiCo is taking on its arch rival Coca-Cola in the ready-to-drink iced coffee space through a team-up with Lavazza.
Unveiled at this week’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships, Lavazza Iced Cappuccino will roll out this summer in a slimline can with no PepsiCo branding.
Making its iced coffee debut, Lavazza offered “indisputable expertise in high-quality coffee sourcing and roasting, as well as consumer marketing and product development” it said, while PepsiCo had “beverage know-how”.
The RTD launch was the first step of a strategic collaboration between the two suppliers in Europe, Lavazza added. “Both companies will work together to broaden the offering with new products, as well as expand into new markets in 2020.”
The tie-up allowed the Italian brand “to explore and offer in certain strategic markets more and more ways to enjoy coffee, in line with the international vocation of the group to grow on a global scale” said its chief marketing officer Sergio Cravero.
PepsiCo West Europe Beverages’ head of marketing, Mark Kirkham, said the partners would “innovate and bring to market new offerings based on consumer insights and preferences in the growing premium coffee space”.
Lavazza Iced Cappuccino (rsp:£1.70/250ml) arrives after last month’s launch of a trio of Costa Coffee RTDs from Coca-Cola. Classic Latte, Caramel Latte and Black Americano are made from the same Mocha Italia coffee beans used in Costa’s high street cafés, each containing the equivalent of a double shot of espresso.
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