By Princewill Ekwujuru
Intercontinental Distilleries Limited has unveiled three new wines to it’s line of products in the market. The three new Veleta products comes in three variants of Red, White grapes and Peach.

Mr. Bayo Oke, Assistant General Manager ( Sales and Marketing) while describing the drinks which are non alcoholic said fruit drink market which is serviced by both locally and internationally produced brands makes the wine market in Nigeria highly competitive.

Thus, the Non-Alcoholic segment controls about 38 percent  of the entire market (CMRG Omnibus 2008), hence, the need to have a high quality non alcoholic sparkling fruit drink comparable to international standard is put in lace by the company While describing the drinks he said, “Veleta is a full-bodied, sparkling, non alcoholic and uniquely satisfying fruit drink. Blended with carefully selected rich and healthy grape fruits.

Continuing, the Sales Manager said the products are fortified with essential vitamins and  minerals which provide  extra nourishment to build, protect and revitalize the body.

On brand personality of the products , he said that the drinks are unisex, sociable, friendly, nourishing, out-going, sparkling and exotic.    He said that the differentiations on the new drinks now have distinct and attractive labels,  indigenous blend at par with international standard
He said the drink targets consumers between the ages of 18 to 45 years, as well as BCD socio-economic groups and the urban & semi-urban residents celebrating important events

On the communication strategy to be used to push the brand into the market, Oke said that the company is going all out and would exploring the 360 degree marketing communicationstrategy like TV, radio, print, outdoor, Point of Sale (POS) materials, ABS posters, danglers, Stickers back drops / roller banners, T-shirts, table mats and shopping bags.  Contributing,  Mr Patrick Anegba, Managing Director, IDL whilst speaking on the journey of the company said, “our journey into the wine and spirits market can be traced back to 1749 when two Italians, Justerini and Brooks formed a  Wine and Spirits concern, called J&B (derived from their two names).

He stated that J&B went through series of acquisitions and ownership changes until it became what is known today as  International Distilleries & Vintners (IDV). IDV itself was an arm of Grand Metropolitan Plc of the United Kingdom, he stated. He explained that Grand Metropolitan Plc’s strategy to refocus her business, with the view to capturing the International market gave rise to the incorporation of International Distilleries Nigeria Limited (IDNL) in 1983.
IDNL commenced local production in 1984 with  Eagle Aromatic Schnapps, purely a Nigerian initiative, he noted.
With the series of expansion later witnessed, Veleta Fruit Drink was introduced in 2002, to satisfy the desire of Nigerians for a good quality sparkling, non alcoholic fruit drink.

Today, IDL is proudly represented in almost all segments of Wines and Spirits markets with notable brands like;
“As a company committed to satisfying the ever changing consumer expectations, we have gone ahead to repackage the brand Veleta, giving it the kind of panache that will further excite the consumers and make it a delight every time,” he enthused.