Its latest launch is Berocca Hydrate launched just in November.
A month ago, the brand also launched a canned energy drink branded Berocca Go.
Around July, two other products for mind and immune health were also introduced into the market, including Chemist Warehouse and supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths.
A flagship brand of Bayer Consumer Health, Berocca has been closely tied to physical performance especially in a major sporting nation like Australia.
The brand, which counts Berocca Orange Effervescent Tablets as its bestseller, has for instance, sponsored cycling events and worked with the national basketball team Australian Boomers.
Now, the brand is moving into areas beyond physical energy, with a particular focus on mental and emotional energy.
“We are expanding Berocca across different states of energy, be it physical, mental, social, and emotional energy,” Ayumi Uyeda, general manager for Australia, New Zealand, Consumer Health Division at Bayer told NutraIngredients-Asia.
“The equity of Berocca is all about owning the zone. When you are doing something really well, we’re talking about ‘being in the zone’, and the idea of Berocca is to take one step further and to ‘own the zone’.
“That’s the territory for Berocca and there’s a few different adjacent areas, whether that’s physical, mental, and emotional, social energy,” she said.
The main reasons for moving into these new energy states include changing consumer trends and demands.
Its latest launch, Berocca Hydrate, for instance, is to support consumers who regularly take part in outdoor activities and helping consumers stay hydrated in the hot climate.
The product, which comes in orange and raspberry blackcurrant flavoured effervescent tablets, is formulated with electrolytes, B vitamins, and magnesium.
It is said to support electrolyte balance, muscle function, and energy levels, as well as supporting hydration faster than drinking water alone.
Berocca Mind, on the other hand, is formulated with eight B vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, iron, and Spanish Sage extract to support everyday mental endurance and alertness.
As with most Berocca products, it also comes in the format of effervescent tablets and two flavours – citrus and mixed berries. There is also a film-coated tablet version of the product.
“The reason that we are expanding into these other areas is that there have been a lot of changes in trends coming out of COVID.
“When we think of energy, we don’t just think about physical energy anymore, it stretches into emotional energy, mental energy, and even what we call social energy,” she said.
Berocca Immune, also an effervescent tablet product, is formulated with 1,000mg of vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc as an “everyday support for a healthy immune system”.
“Again, there’s an energy component for our immunity product but it is around resilience. We see that this is a growing area in Australia where the market has been a lot more reactive as compared to other APAC markets.”
From home to on-the-go
Aside from new functions, the brand has also expanded into new dosage formats – in this case, a canned energy drink marketed as Berocca Go.
A first-of-its-kind launch for Berocca in Australia, this is meant to expand the use of Berocca to outdoors and on-the-go. Thus, the product is also available in channels such as petrol kiosks and convenience stores.
“Berocca’s products, which typically exist as effervescent tablets, have been used in the home, but we recognise that people also need options for on-the-go, we’ve launched Berocca Go.
“This is a canned energy drink with some fun flavours and the product is very much for the spontaneous shopping channels, like petrol stations and convenience stores,” said Uyeda.
Its main ingredients include B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and green bean caffeine which is said to be more sustainable.
The use of natural flavours, absence of artificial colours, and 99.9 per cent sugar free are other factors that make it a healthier energy drink, she added.
New internal model propels local innovations
Notably, two out of the four new launches were conceptualised by the local Australian team, and the team has managed to push out the products within six to 10 months.
This could be contributed to Bayer’s Dynamic Shared Ownership (DSO) model that was announced earlier this year.
“Berocca Go and Berocca Hydrate are local Australian innovations that we have developed.
“We started working on Berocca Go in December last year and Berocca Hydrate around May to June this year, so it’s only a few months ago and the progress has been quick,” said Uyeda.
The DSO model, implemented worldwide, is meant to “reduce hierarchies, eliminate bureaucracy, streamline structures and accelerate decision-making processes.”
In Australia, for example, the local team can now onboard local contract manufacturers, including auditing the manufacturing sites, instead of having to wait for the global team to do so.
One of the biggest gamechangers, Uyeda. said, was having direct contact with the company’s internal manufacturing sites and formulators.
This has helped speed up the innovation process by doing away with bureaucratic processes involving the global office.
“We’ve been given a lot more empowerment to move quickly and that’s really paying off.
“The aim is to truly serve the consumers and so it’s simple – if it doesn’t help the consumers, we don’t do it, no matter what it is.
“What we found is that by doing that, there’s a whole lot of work that we can stop, there’s a whole lot of processes that we don’t need to worry about, and we can just go from A to B in a much simpler and faster way.”
In this year, Bayer has launched 14 SKUs in Australia across various brands.
For future new product development, there is a possibility that the process could be completed in six months, but there are still external factors – such as supply chain that needs to be considered.
“If we were to set NPD goals for ourselves in the future, I would love to think that we could do things within six months as a norm, but let’s see, there’s always different levels of complexity and hurdles.
“For example, when we were preparing Berocca Go, there was a nationwide shortage of cans, and we had to find ways around that.”
