I watched with anticipated breath as EABL launched into the non alcohol beverage sector. They hadn’t been successful before with Malta Guinness the drink that is a big hit in West Africa. Riding on the wave of Guinness which was making inroads into East Africa proved not to be very successful for the brand. The new product was a drink called Alvaro which Diageo needed to test market in one of their African markets.
Positioned to target the ABC1 urbanites Alvaro has been an unprecedented success in Nairobi. It has a swet taste coming in the pineapple and pear flavours but is a classier drink than your normal soda which is mass market. According to EABL they have sold over 7 million bottles and thier whole year target was 9 million bottles. That should be enough to instill fear in Coca Cola and all other beverage companies. Granted Alvaro is quite new and still needs to grow in the market the uptake of the brand should be enough to challenge Coca Cola’s dominance.
So my question remains what is Coca Cola going to do to keep in check Alvaro’s rise in this market. So far Coca Cola launched burn – an energy drink and a 50 million shilling promotion but i dont that will counter Alvaro’s growth in this market. Time to watch wait and see but for the very first time EABL has gotten the non alcoholic beverage right. As some preacher said recently Christians in this country have been waiting for a long time to partake from EABL’s table, with Alvaro thier wait has be amplty rewarded.
I just wonder how Coca Cola will counter the rise of Alvaro… i guess only time will tell.
BrandKemistry 
Its the ‘fruit’ that is selling… Picana is very popular but they do not have EABL or Coke’s marketing and distribution.
There is no trace of fruit at all in Alvaro. No pineapple. No pear. Please check my post on this: http://rafiki-kenya.blogspot.com/2008/07/alvaro-non-alcoholic-but-not-natural.html
There is not much natural about Alvaro, although they are using the word “natural” in all their ads.
There is no fruit at all in Alvaro, it is just a chemical flavouring that has been added. So I don’t know why they call it “natural”. At least Picana is made from real fruits! Check out my post on the same: http://rafiki-kenya.blogspot.com/2008/07/alvaro-non-alcoholic-but-not-natural.html
Coca-Cola’s distribution system is almost criminal. They maintain market share by bullying retailers to stock only their products. No amount of marketing or investment can help a rival. You think you have choice? Or that you drink Coke products because you like them? It’s more likely you do so because it is everywhere and its the only thing there!!!
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prop4g4nd4kali:
Your statement doesn’t make sense…why bully retailers to stock your products when, as you say, Coke is the only one in the market (which , FYI, isn’t true)???
Coke has a superior distribution network based on a global vision which is “A Coke within Arm’s Reach of Desire”. Kama wengine hawana that kind of a system waseme wasaidiwe!
@Ilovenovida
I meant Coke is usually the only one in the shop, not in the market as a whole.
If you go to many small outlets, you often find Coke products only. This is not because the outlet is not interested in other offerings or because rivals have poor distribution systems. It is due to monopolistic behaviour that has been documented in many places (The Real Thing by Constance Hays).
When Coke signs a sales delivery contract with a small restaurant or shop, they have all kinds of requirements about how only Coke products should be stocked or displayed. Lots of small shops have had their Coke fridges and Coke supply withdrawn for having any rival product in the same place. It is this bullying that keeps Coke tops. Have you forgotten how Coke reps went about smashing Softa bottles when Kuguru tried to challenge them?
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Where in US can this beverage (Alvaro) be purchased?
Awesome looking website!
Thanks pal. Awesome website you got here. Have some extra links to direct to with more stuff like this?