LAKEVILLE, Mass. -- Ocean Spray and PepsiCo have forged a long-term strategic alliance in which Pepsi-Cola North America will market, bottle and distribute single-serve cranberry juice products in the United States and Canada under the Ocean Spray name. The agreement also includes opportunities for the development of new products across multiple trade channels in the future.
This is a chance for both PepsiCo and Ocean Spray to turn up the dialogue on the health benefits of cranberries, said Dawn Hudson, president and CEO, Pepsi-Cola NA. Over the past [image-nocss] several years, we've built successful, mutually beneficial partnerships with strong brands like Lipton and Starbucks, and now we plan to work side-by-side with Ocean Spray to create a major healthy refreshment business focused on cranberries. When people think of cranberries, they think of Ocean Spray.
Said Ocean Spray President and CEO Randy Papadellis: As the Ocean Spray cooperative moves to build its brand, we are seeking out alliances to reach consumers more broadly and powerfully than ever before. We're thrilled to re-establish our partnership with Pepsi and begin a fruitful, long-lived relationship with the world's premier beverage and snack company.
Integration of single-serve juices into the Pepsi system will begin in 2007.
Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 650 cranberry growers in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and other parts of Canada as well as more than 100 Florida grapefruit growers. Ocean Spray was formed 76 years ago by three cranberry growers from Massachusetts and New Jersey. Florida grapefruit growers joined the Cooperative in 1976. Ocean Spray is North America's leading producer of canned and bottled juices and juice drinks,it said.
Purchase, N.Y.-based Pepsi-Cola NA is the refreshment beverage unit of PepsiCo Inc. in the United States and Canada. Its U.S. brands include Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi ONE, Pepsi Twist, Diet Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Vanilla, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Code Red, Mountain Dew LiveWire, Sierra Mist, Sierra Mist Free, Mug, Tropicana Twister Soda, Aquafina, Aquafina FlavorSplash, Aquafina Sparkling, Quaker Milk Chillers, Dole single-serve juices, Tropicana Juice Drinks and SoBe. The company also makes and markets ready-to-drink iced teas and coffees, respectively, via joint ventures with Lipton and Starbucks.
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