Why apple brands are becoming popular in Nigeria’s non-alcoholic market —Expert

The Nigeria soft or non-alcoholic drink market is indeed a huge one. According to statistics by Euromonitor International, 38.68 million litres of soft drinks were sold in Nigeria in 2016.

Sulaimon Abiodun, a marketing and health communications expert, argues that despite the fact there are several players in this sector of the economy, he sees the apple drinks segment as the most interesting because of the increasing popularity the segment has continued to enjoy in the nation’s non-alcoholic market, over the years.

Using the La Casera Apple drink brand as an example, Sulaimon, in an opinion, written on the topic, believes that in the nation’s soft drinks market, the La Casera Apple drink blazed the trail when the brand raised the real apple content to five per cent, the highest in the nation’s apple soft drink market, some years ago.

“The story of that offering began 17 years ago. In 2001, the Nigeria soft drink market experienced a rebirth as La Casera Apple Drink from the stables of The La Casera Company (TLCC) visited the entire nation with a refreshing apple soft drink in PET bottles, boosting the brand’s popularity among several consumers across the country.

“Interestingly, the La Casera brand was the first to introduce PET bottles in Nigeria, thus making it accessible and acceptable to all. Consumers, therefore, experienced a new found love in the La Casera Apple brand, because of its ease of purchase and convenience of consumption,” he stated.

According to the brand analyst, as a consequence of the innovation,  the brand became an instant hit as an ‘on-the-go’ soft drink, a development, he believes,  changed the landscape of soft drink consumption pattern in Nigeria.

Sulaimon believes  those innovations and  unique  attributes of the La Casera brand, however  challenged other players to follow suit in launching theirs in the year 2004 – three years after the birth of La Casera.

With the heat of the competition ignited, consumers in that market segment, began to flock in the direction of La Casera Apple, which they believe contains real apple juice as against the other flavour -filled brands which dominated the market prior to its entry into the market.

The relevance of the innovation and ingenuity of adding real apple juice in La Casera Apple cannot be over-emphasised, as apples have been found to be healthy for everyone.

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According to Medical News Daily, apple is best known as a nutritional powerhouse, for it contains Vitamin C. The vitamin is a powerful natural antioxidant capable of halting and reversing some of the damage caused by free radicals in our body, as well as boosting the body’s resistance against infectious diseases.

Free radicals arise from the effects of stress and unhealthy foods. The medical news further said that apples contain B-complex vitamins, which are key in maintaining red blood cells and keeping the nervous system in good health.

Some other medical journals consider apples as one of the healthiest fruits in the world, for they are extremely rich in antioxidants, flavonoids and dietary fibre, making them able to provide improved digestion and prevent stomach and eye disorders. According to food scientists, there are over 7,000 variants of apples in the world.

Apples could also be made available in form of juice. Apple juice is a fruit juice made by the maceration and pressing of apple. The resulting extracted juice may be further treated to remove the starch and pectin, which holds fine particulate in suspension, and then pasteurised for packaging in glass, metal or aseptic processing system containers.

One interesting fact about La Casera Apple is that the brand has the best apple juice offering in the nation’s  soft drink market, since it offers real apple juice, not flavor, he stated.

“The goodness of apple is both enthralling and appealing. The La Casera Apple drink is not only the smarter choice to be made by consumers, it should be seen as a way of tasting the goodness of apple juice,” Sulaimon stated.