Christmas soda – now it’s going to be new

Oh holy night! There was a huge uproar when Aass brewers changed their Christmas soda packaging last year.

Now Ringnes is following suit and launching People’s favorite light Christmas soda from Hammar and Lillehammer In a box.

– This is a measure because we see that aluminum cans are something people demand. We saw this, among other things, when we launched the Solo Super Christmas soda last year, Nikolai Brosgaard, communications director at Ringnes, tells DinSide.

Now when they try new varieties, the light version of their most popular Christmas soft drink comes first. It is Ringnes that produces the soft drinks Hamar and Lillehammer.

Aren’t you afraid of reactions? Aass brewers could report an unprecedented storm of complaints when they announced the switch from bottles to cans.

“We are not getting rid of the bottle, but we are trying a box in addition to the bottle and the plastic bottle,” says Brosgaard.

Ringness estimates they will sell ten million liters of Christmas soda this year, seven of which will be Hammer and Lillehammer soda. Ringnes, Dahls and Solo Super account for the remaining three million. This represents just over half of the total Christmas soda market, which last year was about 19 million litres, according to Nielsen analysis figures.

The great resurrection

How much emotion is attached to seasonal soft drinks, can Leif Eliassen, Brand Director at Aass bryggerier, sign off, after Drammensbryggerier decided to replace the bottles for its Christmas soft drinks with more environmentally friendly aluminum cans last year.

They still have no plans to convert.

-We’re adamant that Christmas soda is the best in the can. We believe that more environmentally friendly products, lower prices for customers, and better quality of the final product are still good arguments, Eliassen tells DinSide.

The brewery sold the same amount of Christmas soda last year as in previous years, although we changed the packaging and only sold it in cans.

– We think it’s better to throw ourselves without a lifejacket into Drammen, rather than dipping our toes carefully like in Gjelleråsen.

Environmental considerations

One of the main reasons for switching from glass to cans is that aluminum cans are more sustainable than bottles. Aluminum boxes are much lighter and therefore consume less energy during transportation.

– This is also a measure because we see a huge demand for the boxes, says Brosgaard.

This is also reflected in mortgage numbers. In 2022, approximately 1.5 billion plastic cans and bottles have been pledged. Among them are 921 million cans.

– If we look at the size, we mostly sell Christmas soda in plastic bottles, but this is not surprising, because the largest bottles are plastic. Box is currently the smallest, but the category is growing a lot.

The box is now the most widely used packaging.

Brown or red?

Julebrus is a nostalgic tradition that evokes strong feelings in many people. Most people want the Christmas soda they grew up with, but the color of the soda is important, too.

Because does it have to be brown or does the Christmas color red apply?

– 2022 was the first year that brown and red Christmas sodas were roughly the same volume, and only slightly more red Christmas sodas were sold. Brosgaard says it will be interesting to see if brown Christmas soda passes this year.

There has also been a real shift towards sugar-free soft drinks, but the Christmas soft drinks category is lagging behind.

– Christmas drinks are a bit of a trickier category, here people want them ‘just like they used to be’.

About 90 per cent of the soft drinks Ringnes sells are sugar-free, while in the Christmas soft drinks category, sugary soft drinks are unusually strong. Last year, they sold about the same amount of Christmas soft drinks with and without sugar, while for the market as a whole, the share of Christmas soft drinks with sugar was about 60 percent.

– Sugar-free drinks saw a five per cent increase, so it will be interesting to see if this is the year that sugar-free drinks catch up with sugary soft drinks, also in the Christmas soft drinks category.

A unique phenomenon

The uniquely Norwegian phenomenon of Christmas soda is unique. Over the entire period, Christmas soft drinks accounted for 17 per cent of soft drink volume, according to Nielsen figures.

– Brosgaard says that the fact that there is a seasonal variant that captures a large part of the market, and in competition with the major giants, is very special.

In the last two weeks before Christmas, every quart of soft drink sold is a Christmas soft drink.

We see that commitment is very high, especially after the emergence of social media, and here there are loud discussions.

– Understands that people shake their heads