5 minutes with… David Laidler, Britvic

We spent our latest 5-minute slot catching up on Britvic’s plans for the Rockstar brand with David Laidler, Head of Growth Space Marketing & Innovation

What’s the story with Rockstar?

PepsiCo purchased Rockstar globally in 2020 and paid just shy of £4 billion for it, so it was the biggest soft drinks purchase ever. With Britvic’s long-standing partnership with PepsiCo, we’re now the sole distributor within the UK and Ireland, and have been since 2020. We’ve been working on an exciting new brand relaunch proposition for this summer aimed at exciting current consumers and attracting new consumers into the stimulants category.

So what’s next?

There is a new pack design and we’ll be reformulating Rockstar Original by improving the taste and adding vitamin C. We’ll also be adding a new four-pack to the range because we know at-home consumption in the past year has massively grown.

Where does Rockstar fit in with what else is in Britvic’s stable?

Energy and stimulant energy is massive – it’s worth almost £1bn in the UK – and it’s been growing fast. Having both Rockstar and Purdey’s gives us the ability to offer great choice. One of the reasons energy is so big is that needs have varied across the category because some people will drink energy drinks for a specific boost – and that’s where Rockstar comes in – and others will drink them for a gentler wellbeing set of needs and that’s where Purdey’s comes in.

Why is it beneficial to work with an existing brand?

Rockstar is already the third-largest energy brand in convenience in the UK and third-largest energy stimulation brand globally, so we’ve got a good base to work with. And we think it can be much more by opening up the brand and the category to a new generation of energy drinkers.

How will wholesale play its part?

Wholesale is a hugely important sector for energy and vice versa. We’ll have all the right pricemarked pack ranges, shelf-ready packaging by variant and great category support to make the most of merchandising.

Britvic Energy drinks PepsiCo Rockstar