DAY FOUR: Denver, CO

Sunday, August 27th, 2006

Our first day in Denver and within minutes of getting off the plane we feel healthier. The first thing we notice at the farmers market are the amount of bikes. Not just plain old bikes but really fancy, cool colour, funky kind of bikes that you want to just jump on and head to the mountains. watch clip

Then there are the kids. Kids and dogs. Everywhere you look, kids and dogs. Puppies, old ones, yellow ones, spotted ones lying under the table in the restaurant where the salads we ordered were perfect for one person (instead of the standard, big enough to feed a family).

Organic vegetables, homemade bread, fresh flowers and of course happy cow cheese. Apparently, happy cows don’t just live in California.

And having just got off the plane from Nashville we could not help but notice that everyone seems healthy.

Why does SunnyD do well here when everyone seems to be living the John Denver life of pure nature and fresh from the field?


The Shopping Reality
Over the last couple of days, including today, we have done quite a few store checks. Watching, roaming and even approaching the odd person who puts SunnyD in their cart. A couple of observations scream at us. But before the "aha's" we have to mention the obvious: the supermaket is flooded with choices. Shopping has gone from a simple errand to navigating a sea of products. The options, variants and skews are daunting. Aisle to aisle. product to product. A person could get lost. According to the Nutrition Action Newsletter article, (8.17.06)

The average number of products carried by a typical supermarket has more than tripled since l980, from 15,000 to 50,000. More than two-thirds of these products were condiments, candy and snacks, baked goods, soft drinks, cheese products and ice cream novelties - much of it loaded with empty calories.

Yep. There are a lot of choices out there. And mom is faced with them each time she visits the supermarket. You can learn a lot from watching her wind in and out through the aisles-- especially when her kids are running around after her.

1. Soda is in every cart. Not just one case, but several. The soda aisle (or pop aisle as they call itin Denver) is a must stop every trip.

2. The drink aisle where SunnyD, but also Capri Sun, Hi C, Gatorade and other shelf drinks dominate is calculated on three factors; price, sales, and ‘will the kids drink it’.

3. SunnyD is spread out throughout the store with major presence in the staple aisle along with milk, juice, eggs, etc. Only problem is, while milk and juice are on the list, Sunny D is not.

“I buy it for my husband cause he likes the tart taste. My 9-year-old grandson likes it as well so he has it when he is over. It tastes good that is why they drink it so much. I don’t drink it but they sure do.” 60-so Grandma (Nashville).

Implication: To increase sales amongst existing SunnyD purchasers we cannot rely on price and sales. We need to get SunnyD on their weekly list, encouraging them to make SunnyD a staple in their household along side milk.