Coldfield refreshes its brands
Published:Friday | September 14, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter
Beverage company Coldfield Manufacturing has overhauled the packaging on its juices to dispel what it calls misconceptions about the quality of the products, but also to position for expansion into exports.
The company produces four lines of juices and drinks, but the makeover so far been completed for two - the Country Style and Big Jo brands.
The designs are bolder and, in the case of Big Jo, the company has dropped the product's description as being 'artificially flavoured' in favour of 'flavoured drink'; and the words "quality products since 1990" are boldly stencilled at the top and base of the box.
"The company is now in a phase of transition of improving the brand by placing more emphasis on the quality of the product and trying to bring that out in the package," said Brett Wong, managing director of Coldfield Manufacturing.
"What we want to do is to make the quality of the design the same as the product in the box. There is a misconception that the carton may represent a lower-grade product, so we have redesigned the box to show the quality," he said.
Coldfield has also tinkled with the recipe - Big Jo now has 40 per cent less sugar, he said. Country Style's juice recipe, however, is unchanged.
Coldfield Manufacturing is a private family-run Jamaican business, with its production base at 10 Deanery Road in Kingston. It also operates from offices in Mandeville, Runaway Bay and Montego Bay.
It produces a premium line of juices under the Pure Country brand, as well as drinks and juices under the Country Style, Big Jo, and Fruit Jazz brands.
The repackaging of the Country Style products have just been completed, while the Big Jo products were done in November 2011.
Coldfield said the repackaging was the first element of a broader plan to reintroduce, refresh and modernise the business.
Wong said that eventually all the brands will undergo the makeover. He declined comment on the cost, though he said the marketing spend would run into millions of dollars .
"It's not very expensive," he said. "The logos were very old, so we did some design work, improving the brand image, and now we are working to communicate the new look," Wong said.
The refreshed operation, he said, would position Coldfield for growth both domestically and in the export market.
"In the last couple of years, we have been growing in the various market segments, in the super-markets, shops, and entered some institutions and the hotel trade ... now export is a natural progression," said Wong.
"There is a lot of potential for Jamaican products oversees and we want to export, so part of our transition is geared towards looking at outer markets."
The company is targeting United States, United Kingdom and the Caribbean markets.
Wong said over the last five years, Coldfield carried out major expansion work at an investment of about J$100 million in new equipment for its 10,000-square-foot factory. Further upgrades are planned for next year, he said.
Coldfield estimates that it now has an 18 to 25 per cent share of the juice-drink beverage market. It sells more than 50 million units or boxes per year under its four product lines; Big Jo accounts for 20 million units, Wong said.