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Why not Motts? Revised: 6/18/99 There has been much speculation about which company, if any, would benefit cranberry growers and Ocean Spray the most in a merger. Why not Motts? Cadbury Schweppes has close connections with Coca-Cola explained here: (1) (2) . Cadbury Schweppes owns Motts. They also have a bottling arrangement with Welch's in Canada. Coke of course owns Minute Maid, giving them strength in orange juice and in the refrigerated section of the supermarket. If Ocean Spray were to merge with Motts and come under the umbrella of Coca-Cola and Cadbury Schweppes, their dominance of the juice aisle would all but be guaranteed, from apple juice through blends to cranberry and grapefruit juice. Welch's and store brands would still own a couple of feet of shelf space for grape juice, unless the "name" in grapes joined the new "franchise". There seems to be a natural fit between Ocean Spray and Welch's in that they are both agriculture cooperatives. All of the Ocean Spray apple blends would gain stature and recognition under a label that would highlight both Motts and Ocean Spray. Just like Ocean Spray is to cranberries as Kleenex is to facial tissue, so is Motts to apples. In addition, Motts apple sauce and Ocean Spray sauce are highly complementary products and beg to be worked into tasty combinations that would jump off the shelves with a combined label. |