Ribena is taking on Ocean Spray and Pomegreat in its first foray into pure juice as it sets out to create a £50m brand.

Ribena 100% Pure Juices will be the GSK-owned brand's biggest piece of NPD in its 70-year history, said senior brand manager Ruth Irving. It is the first new category the brand has entered in 26 years since it made its debut in Tetra Pak cartons.

Available in one-litre cartons and 250ml PET bottles, the two launch flavours - blackcurrant blend and raspberry & blackberry blend - hit shelves in April and will be backed with a £5m TV, radio and sampling campaign from June. It is the start of a pipeline of NPD for the new brand, which will include more berry flavours and new formats to meet consumer trends. The launch marks the brand's first move into the breakfast category and is also targeted at new channels for Ribena, such as coffee shops, to tap into on-the-go drinking.

"There's a big peak at lunchtimes for Ribena consumption and then late afternoon, showing our strength is still in squash," said Irving. "We see juices taking us towards exciting new opportunities at breakfast time. This brand will be a great vehicle for developing Ribena as a contemporary brand for young adults."

Ribena's three to five-year plan was for juices to become as big a part of the £140m business as any of its sub-brands. The squashes and 500ml bottles are worth about £50m each, with cartons worth £35m, according to GSK. "We're up against Ocean Spray and Pomegreat, but we believe we bring something different. You could taste our blackcurrant juice and it is undeniably Ribena," she said.

The drink, which carries the 5-a-day logo, contains no artificial colours or flavours and is sweetened using pear, grape and acerola cherry juices. There are no plans to extend its natural juice sweeteners to its core ranges, Irving added.

Ocean Spray sales were £53.4m last year [Nielsen 52 w/e 6 October 2007]. Pomegreat's sales grew 264% according to the Britvic soft drinks category report. The juice market grew 9.4% to £1.8bn last year.

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