Aje Group, the producer of Big carbonated soft drinks, yesterday revealed a minor revamp of products and distribution in a bid to accelerate growth in the next few years.
Soren Lauridsen, regional director for Asia and managing director of Aje Thai, said the company recently changed the brand of its Cielo drinking water to Big Aqua after bringing all of its carbonated soft drink brands under the "Big" label in the first quarter of this year.
The move aims to create the same brand identity for all products.
Aje Thai believes the Big Aqua name is more memorable for consumers than Cielo.
The company recently launched its new Big logo in both Thai and English with a larger font. In addition, a hummingbird -- the smallest bird in the world -- has been added to the logo to reflect the brand's personality.
In addition to the logo change, Aje Thai also introduced two new carbonated soft drink flavours, Big Coconut and Big Lime Soda.
Big Coconut was exclusively developed in Thailand, which is a highly important market for Aje Group. The coconut-flavoured carbonated soft drink is the first of its kind in the world.
"Demand for coconut drinks continues to rise, particularly in countries with warm climates. With our new beverage innovation, we can capture more Big fans in Thailand," he said.
The company will take several months to monitor the market response to the coconut soft drink. If the feedback is good and sales increase, the company will export Big Coconut beverage to other countries in Asean.
Currently, product coverage under the Big label is about 50% nationwide.
Aje Thai found that its products cannot reach customers well in Bangkok and the northern and southern provinces, which account for half the total area of Thailand.
"If we can increase our distribution coverage, there is room to grow our soft drinks business," said Mr Lauridsen.
To strengthen its distribution network, the company has already appointed two new distributors in the South after having only one distributor for the region.
The company expects to increase its product distribution coverage to 60% next year and 75% by 2018.