1985
IT HAPPENED IN…1985
Unemployment dropped to 6.8%, consumer spending
rose 6.6%, and a record 15.6 million vehicles were sold.
For the first time since World War I the U.S. became a debtor
nation.
An Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
epidemic spread across the United States.
Loyal Coke drinkers forced the return of the
original formula as Coca-Cola Classic.
1,389 U.S. soft drink bottling plants were in
operation.
A November, 1985
Beverage World article
provided insight into the status of the root beer market:
Marking Time with Root Beer by Paul Mullins, Special Projects Editor
"What the bottlers need to realize is that although
this is a cola dominated business and always will be, the other flavors
and segments are equally important”…(the) root beer share of market will
probably be flat this year, or even show a decline…The national
expansion of A&W, the emergence and expansion of Barq’s…the
reformulation and revitalization of Procter & Gamble’s Hires, and the
current aggressive position of Dad’s all have created activity in the
marketplace that wasn’t there as recently as five years ago…
At A&W, unit sales are projected to be up this year
around six percent, including both sugar free (newly reformulated with
100 percent NutraSweet) and regular.
The only nationally produced root beer brand, A&W captures 30
percent of the category’s total market, and outdistances number two
Hires by more than 21 share points…
Dad’s shares one trait in common with Hires.
Both are old brands, built during the days when both the major
cola firms discouraged their bottlers from adding secondary product
lines. As a result, the
systems that developed for these two were in plants and franchises
outside the major cola stream.
Hires is owned by Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati, OH),
a company with a strict policy against releasing sales or share
information. However, a
sampling of Hires bottlers shows sales gains of 18 to 42 percent.
Overall, in its market areas (some 60 percent of the U.S.
population), Hires is showing a 14 percent increase this year over last…
Competition has always been stiff in the root beer
markets. In recent years it
has escalated, and in the years to come it could get even hotter.
Now that Coke and Pepsi have signaled their intentions to lead
all segments of the soft drink business, will they turn their attention
to root beers? The subject
is so hot that none of the major brand marketers are willing to discuss
the possibility on or off the record.