PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2010

Regional market reports Germany Part 4 REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 14 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 04/10 www.petpla.net Part 4 Germany identity by enlisting the help of two well-known and popular Swabian TV characters, “Äffle“ (Little monkey) and “Pferdle“ (Little pony) under the strapline “We are Swabians“. For the EiszeitQuell brand, Sander envisages an ambitious market penetration programme with its focus on Baden-Württemberg. In addition, they are looking at new markets, with an on-line shop, currently in the pipeline, showing the way forward. Sander sums his strategy up as follows: “What we are looking for is steady organic growth”. To help the company achieve this, the MD will be investing exclusively in PET plant. It is well-known that within Germany Baden-Württemberg is regarded as a stronghold of traditional glass bottles (for min- eral water, that is). The company’s dual brand name strat- egy also takes this into account. It was in 2001 that Romina commissioned its first PET plant with an output at the time of 14,000bph. In order to cope with the increasing demand for EiszeitQuell products in PET, they carried out some fine-tun- ing on the plant in 2005. At the time the Krones-SBM/filler plant had a capacity of 22,000bph. The brands produced at the PET plant at Romina are EiszeitQuell (sparkling,medium and natural), SilberBrun- nen (classic and medium) as well as SilberBrunnen Apfels- chorle (apple spritzer), Cola Mix and different kinds of lemon- ades in1 l and 1.5l single serve and returnable packaging. According to Ralph Sander, with EiszeitQuell the company is marketing “the best water there is in Germany”. After all, consider the USP of his leading brand: In the prehistoric Ice Age spring there are no traces of modern civilisation to be found. And because the water is so good as it is, Romina has no plans to introduce near water products, which are increas- ingly gaining ground in the market place at the moment. Own brands and trade brands Ralph Möller, engineer at Hansa Heemann AG Hansa Heemann Hansa Heemann supply not only their own brands but also trade brands to the big supermarkets. Their range In our last part of our Regional Market Report Germany we report on the filling companies Hansa Heemann and Romina. by Alexander Büchler Regional brand, supra-regional ambition Romina Mineralbrunnen Formed more than 10,000 years ago and lying hidden 400m deep underground, protected by formidable stone for- mations, is the Ice Age spring from which Romina draws its mineral water. We visited Romina, a regional mineral water bottling company in Baden-Württemberg where attention is increasingly focused on mighty brand names, packaged in PET. With around 100 members of staff and an annual turno- ver of €25m in 2009, Romina is one of the leading mineral water bottling companies in Baden-Württemberg. Reflecting the proud local traditions of Swabia, the mineral water goes under the regional brand name of Silber Brunnen “ (Silver Spring) whilst its supra-regional aspirations are cap- tured under the ‘EiszeitQuell’ (Ice Age Spring) brand. Ralph Sander, Managing Director of Romina Mineralb- runnen, is in no doubt about the glowing health of Romina, and its healthy interest in growing its brands. For the com- pany, growth means investing in the Marketing / Sales sector and, with this in mind, Sander has one or two strategies up his sleeve. The SilberBrunnen brand emphasises its local Ralph Sander, Managing Director of Romina Mineralbrunnen