Earlier this year, when the folks at Tetley USA, Inc. in Shelton, CT, decided to give Snapple, et al, a run for the money in the U.S. market, they turned to sister organization Tetley Canada, Ltd. in Mississauga, Ontario, for packaging inspiration.
In Canada, Tetley is the number one selling ready-to-drink (RTD) iced tea, enjoying as much as 30% market share in some sections of the country. Back in the States, however, although the brand was one of the first RTD teas to hit the market, it never has been much more than an also-ran in the field.
Tetley looked over the array of packages offered in the Canadian market (250-mL aseptic cartons, 341-mL aluminum cans, 473-mL glass bottles, 1.89-L gabletop cartons and the newest, a 2-L aseptically filled polyethylene terephthalate bottle) and decided to see if the PET bottle could duplicate its Canadian success in the States. Tetley introduced it in Ontario last year, and retail sales of its teas in that bottle quickly rose to 11.6% of the RTD iced tea market. For its U.S. debut in selected East Coast markets, the clear PET bottle was filled with lemon-flavored tea and given a new Iced Gold label that emphasizes the brand's use of spring water.
As with the Tetley Canada product marketed north of the border, Tetley USA's Iced Gold line is packed by A. Lassonde, Inc. (Rougemont, Quebec) on a pioneering aseptic filling line from Remy Equipement (Paris, France). The 2-L bottle is similar in appearance to the one Lassonde has for some time used for its Fruité line of fruit drinks (shown). With some pride, Jean Gattuso, executive vice president and general manager at Lassonde, points out that the company was the first in North America to have an aseptic filling line for plastic bottles. Lassonde has been running the line since 1987.
