Punica is a German carbonatedsoft drink produced by PepsiCo. that was created by Dittmeyer GmbH and sold from 1977 to 2022.[2]
It is set to return to the stores in April 2024.[3]
Information
Rolf Dittmeyer founded the company, "Dittmeyers Naturrein" in 1960 and imported orange juice from Morocco and South Africa.[4] He then created a brand named, "Valensina". The brand was not a major success and later re-debuted in 1967 as "Valensina-Saft", which had a mix of orange juice concentrate, frozen orange juice and other ingredients.[4] In 1976, Dittmeyer added orange nectar to the mix and named it Punica.[4] Punica then started being sold in 1977[2][5] The brand was said to be very popular in the 1980s and 1990s, especially in the Netherlands and Belgium, due to commercials that were targeted at children.[2] The brand was purchased by Procter & Gamble in 1984.[6][5][7] The company had popular advertising slogans in the 1980s including "Punica-Oase" (Punich Oasis) and "Fruchtigen Durstlöscher" (fruity thirst quencher).[8]
In 2003, the brand generated sales of over €100,000,000.[9] In 2004, the brand was purchased by JW Childs[9] and was sold to PepsiCo in 2005.[10] Pepsi tried to re-design the brand in 2019[11] and attempted to do more advertising on Facebook and Instagram in order to reach younger audiences.[12][13][2] The re-design was unsuccessful and Pepsi sold their juice brands to PAI Partners in August 2021. The company then discontinued Punica in September 2022[2][5][7][14] Remaining unsold products were sold at various supermarkets into 2023.[15][12]
Other products
The brand also produced other beverage lines including Punica Abenteuer Drink, Punica Fruchtig & Spritzig, Punica Tea&Fruit and Punica Saft-Limo.[16]
