Elephant House - Market Leader across the category

Elephant House, the respected iconic soft-drink manufacturer who has over the years retained itself as the market leader in the sector, continues its ‘Number 1’ winning spree in the category as at March 2011 – clearly highlighted through reliable figures pertaining to monitoring market trends in Sri Lanka.

The Company, who has consistently retained its dominant position in the sector with its ever-growing range of soft-drink flavors – from Necto, Lemonade, Apple Soda, Orange Crush, Orange Barley, Tonic and Cream Soda to EGB, Soda, Ginger Ale and Wild Elephant etc. – has no doubt won the hearts of the Sri Lankan consumers – proof of which is further shown by their flagship brand Cream Soda being voted as the most popular beverage by the local people for the SLIM - AC Neilson Brand Awards for five consecutive years.

In addition to its ever colorful and popular range, they are also the only soft drinks manufacturer in Sri Lanka to have Mineral Water, and Wild Elephant as well as a Cola Brand ‘KIK’ in their product portfolio – all which together covers the entire carbonated soft drinks market in their existing product portfolio.

According to Mr. Chandima Perera - Head of Beverages and Vice President of John Keells Holdings, “It is encouraging that as anticipated, our Sri Lankan consumer identifies our brands as superior drinks in their respective categories.”

Elephant House, one of Sri Lanka’s strongest brands and a household name for over 100 years, has always prided itself at keeping their customer in focus and as such has evolved itself to always be innovative and current whilst responding to the needs of the time. With a brand rejuvenation in July last year, the company sent out an early indication that this great brand was getting ready to do greater things - clearly sending out a message that the brand understands the needs of the new generation as well as the opportunities in a new Sri Lanka, and is now gearing itself to leverage its strengths and serve the customers better.

“Therefore we are ecstatic that our hard work, especially in terms of the unique branding done for each of our products, has paid off amongst our discerning consumers.” He went on to further explain how EH has, since inception identified that each brand caters to a different audience and therefore they have always created a positioning which helps each of those much loved soft drinks stand on its own. Testimony to which are the overwhelming comments received from the brand loyal consumers themselves – who have over the years accepted the drinks as products that are ‘right’ not just in terms of taste and quality, but also as strongly differentiated brands with high appeal to the people of our country – one which further strengthens the Company’s positioning as a manufacturer of international class recipes with deeply rooted local values.

“The formulations are always tested over several months with focus group tests, whilst the packaging and communication strategies too are developed and tested amongst the target groups before we find the perfect fit for our brands,” he added.

Internally as well, Elephant House has aligned all their staff – both frontline sales personnel as well as their strong distribution network to play their respective parts in this challenge in order to gain a dominant position in the soft drinks share of Sri Lanka.

“The sales staff were indeed thrilled and excited to now have a complete portfolio in this segment with the launch of Kik last year,” averred Mr. Perera, “and with a distribution network which cover almost every inch of this island, we are confident that our drinks will continue to be available for our consumers at every possible consumption opportunity that one can think of. Our extra loyal network of distributors who passionately believe in the potential of local, home-grown brands such as ours, will guarantee that our company will continue our market leadership position for many more years to come.”

This announcement – the achievement of market leadership throughout the four quarters of 2010/2011, caps off another year of substantial growth and change for the brand and its ever growing product portfolios.