Britvic has launched a new single serve 500ml PET bottle for sparkling variants of its popular juice drink brand Drench.

The new format will be rolled out from the end of March and will be supported by a high impact advertising campaign in May.

Launched in 2016 to offer a lighter alternative to regular sparkling juice drinks, Drench Sparkling contains only 17 calories per 100ml, less than half the calories of an average sparkling fruit drink, making it an appealing choice for today’s health conscious consumers. The new Drench PET bottle has been developed to meet the needs of on the go consumers as recent research has shown that the on the go sector is the biggest growth area within the foodservice and licensed channel for soft drinks, with 26.7% growth, meaning its now worth £505 million.

Kevin McNair, GB marketing director at Britvic Soft Drinks, explains, "Healthy hydration are the buzzwords in the soft drinks category at present as the trend for healthy living continues, but its important to remember that consumers are not willing to forgo taste for health in soft drinks, and nor should they.

"With Drench, they dont need to decide between great taste and refreshment as the new campaign points out, so its a great choice for adults looking for an alternative to juice and a more appealing option than water. With the introduction of the new 500ml PET format for Drench Sparkling, theres now even greater choice for consumers, which is ultimately what we at Britvic aim to provide and we are confident that this will benefit our trade customers in turn as they maximise the on the go opportunity."