Lemon & Paeroa

Paeroa water newspaper advertisement from 1937

Originally, Lemon & Paeroa used naturally carbonated water from a spring near the junction between the Ohinemuri and Waihou rivers in the town of Paeroa. At the time of discovery, the land was a cow paddock, and originally was used to service goldfields. Locals frequently visited to drink the spring water following its discovery. At this point in time, no one had thought of using the water commercially. In 1887 the land first came into ownership of James Coote and Alexander Hogg who were hotel and storekeepers respectively. In August of the same year, they subdivided the land, transferring the plot with the spring (13 acres) to Sir John Logan Campbell, known as "the father of Auckland". After a sawmill was built in 1896 and the land had transferred through several owners, the sawmill was later purchased by Robert Fewell alongside his brother-in-law, Frank Brinkler, in 1908.[2][3] The next year, Fewell purchased its land and started marketing the Paeroa spring water, and later incorporated the Paeroa Natural Mineral Water Company in March 1910. This company sold cases of bottled mineral water rather than Lemon & Paeroa.[3]

Analysis by of the spring's water in 1904 carried out by Arthur Wohlman revealed magnesium bicarbonate in a concentration of 73 grains to the gallon (1040 mg/L), that the water had a temperature of 80 °F (27 °C),[4] and that the water also had a pleasant taste.[3] Wohlman believed that it had medicinal benefits, such as for constipation.[3]

The owner of the L&P Café says that nobody knows who originally invented Lemon & Paeroa, and that it was a random local who added lemon juice to water from the spring.[5] It is also not known when the Lemon flavoured drink first came to be. Some stories have suggested that lemon first was added to the spring 1904. The Lemon & Paeroa brand writes an estimated year of 1907 on their bottle, which according to company's story, is when Menzies & Co started bottling the spring's water.[6]

In 1915, the Paeroa Natural Mineral Water Company and the property the spring sits on was sold to Grey & Menzies Limited, who later opened a new factory in Paeroa in 1926.[3] Rather than producing Lemon & Paeroa, this factory sold carbonated table water. Water from the Paeroa factory was transported in barrels by trucks and tankers to the Auckland factory, where Lemon & Paeroa was made instead.[3][4] It was 1934 when L&P started to be manufactured in the Paeroa factory.[4] In 1960 the company was bought by New Zealand Breweries Ltd, which was later acquired by Schweppes.[3] In 1963 Menzies & Co merged with Hamilton-based bottlers CL Innes, and L&P took on the Innes Tartan as a motif on the neck of the L&P bottle.[4] In the 1960s the well of the spring was lined with concrete that went 13 metres (43 ft) deep, and in 1970 a pipeline was laid from the well to the factory.[3] Due to the carbon dioxide from the well causing breathing issues for workers, there was difficulty upgrading it. The crane first chosen for these upgrades could not lift as much weight as required, meaning that a new crane was obtained.[7] In 1969 Lemon & Paeroa won the British Bottlers' Institute Diploma of Excellence Award, the only non-British company to do so.[3] Innes Tartan and Schweppes was acquired by Oasis Industries in the late 1970s, who are now owned by Coca-Cola.[3][4]

In the 1970s, the Paeroa factory was upgraded which increased the floor space to 1,115 square metres (12,000 sq ft).[3] Around this time, a new spring water pipe was placed between the Paeroa factory and the Railway Reserve, which pumped filtered Paeroa spring water, allowing the public to drink the spring's water for free by using a hand pump in a kiosk. It had been smashed multiple times by vandals, causing the system's closure eighteen months later.[3][7] By the 1970s, water used in Lemon & Paeroa was made artificially rather than coming from the spring. To make sure that the artificial water tastes the same as the original, checks were made between the artificial and spring water.[3] In July 1980 the factory in Paeroa closed and moved production to Auckland, which is now operated by Coca-Cola.[8][3]

Lemon & Paeroa have sponsored various sports tournaments in the 1970s and 1980s. This includes rugby,[9] tennis,[10] skiing,[11] and show jumping.[12]

In 1995 a complaint was made under the Fair Trading Act to the Commerce Commission, stating that as the water used in the drink now comes from Auckland rather than the Paeroa spring, it should rename to Lemon & Panmure (Panmure is the current location of the water supply), or move production back to Paeroa. The Commerce Commission said that no action was necessary.[13]

Branding and packaging

Bottle design from 2005

In 1982–1983, two-litre bottles were released for L&P with the cost of $2.33 at the time. Before then, the largest bottle size was 1.25 litres.[14]

The brand was redesigned in 2005, changing the label to a "retro" style. After an advertising marking the rebrand, the new branding was rolled out three months later in stores so that people would recognise the new bottle designs.[15] In 2012 the branding was redesigned by Dow Design with the intention of making it look more up to date and in line with the younger generation.[16] This included changing the cream coloured lid to a yellow one.[17] The branding was changed again in 2016 Lemon & Paeroa's Facebook page. It included a logo change and new bottle shapes, allowing for better differentiation of the various L&P flavours.[18]

In 2022 Coca-Cola announced that they were considering changing the plastic on the bottles from brown to clear, which would make recycling of the bottle easier. A similar change had already been made with Sprite bottles, which had green plastic replaced with clear plastic. Critics including Hauraki District Mayor Toby Adams have mentioned that because the brown bottle is iconic, people may have a hard time supporting the change. Adams said that if the reason of change was given to consumers (recycling), they would be more likely to be accepting of it. When asked if he thinks the colour change would affect tourism numbers to the 7-metre (23 ft) L&P statue in Paeroa, Adams expressed that he believes that tourists are attracted to it because it is a large and famous bottle, not because of its colour.[19]

A sugar free version of L&P was introduced in 2005, and an L&P dry ginger beer in 2009.[17] L&P flavoured ice cream is sold at the Lemon & Paeroa Café.[20] In 2013 Lemon & Paeroa partnered with chocolate maker Whittaker's, another iconic New Zealand brand, to create an L&P flavoured chocolate. To mark the launch, a Whittaker's delivery van was placed to appear as if it had crashed into the Big Lemon & Paeroa bottle.[21] Chief executive of the council, Langley Cavers, ordered that Whittaker's pay for damage of the crash. It was reported that the mayor and council knew about the campaign and were told by Whittaker's to "play dumb".[22]

In October 2016 Lemon & Paeroa launched a limited edition Chilli & Lime flavour with stereotypical Mexican branding.[18] It was described by the company as "Like getting kicked by a baby donkey". To introduce this flavour an 'L&P Live' show was created. Set in a dairy it was unscripted and hosted by comedians Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery.[17] A sour flavour was introduced in 2013 which became a permanent flavour.[17] On 20 January 2020 a pineapple lump flavour of Lemon & Paeroa was released and was on sale for three months.[23]

The summer cans released in October 2018 had a spelling mistake. It spelt 'Cook Straight' rather than the correct spelling, 'Cook Strait'. After the first production run the typo was discovered and corrected. Lemon & Paeroa decided to release these cans instead of throwing them away. Head of marketing at University of Auckland, Bodo Lang and brand strategiest of University of Waikato, Korey Rubenstein have been expressed possibility of it being a deliberate marketing move rather than a mistake.[24] In 2019 a 70cm tall L&P bottle was sold on Trade Me for over $1,000.[25]

A television advertisement for Lemon & Paeroa in the 1970s featured the Swingers song "Counting the Beat" and included the Lemon & Paeroa statue in Paeroa.[30] The song won the writer, Mike Harvey, The Clio award in 1978 for the best musical soundtrack in a commercial.[35] In late 1987, a promotional music video for Lemon & Paeroa was made by music artists under the name '80 in the Shade'. It is based on a 1960s Motown song, and the video is based in an L&P factory. In 1988 it won the country's best commercial in the Listener Film and Television Awards.[36] Starting in the early 2000s, there was an advertising campaign encouraging people to not get caught drinking anything other than L&P. In two years of this campaign running, sales grew by 30%, which was higher than the change in sales of soft drinks overall.[15]

At the time of the 2005 rebranding there was a $1.25 million advertising campaign that started on 27 February which changed the slogan from "World famous in New Zealand" to "World famous in New Zealand since ages ago". The campaign featured 1970s and 1980s imagery such as stubbies, speedos, and a phrase "bring back the mullet". The senior brand manager, Megan Denize, said that it was designed to remind New Zealanders of the 1970s and that the country is a good place to grow up in. It was designed to target the 16 to 29 age group. The campaign started three months before new bottles were introduced in stores so that people recognise the new branding.[15]

In 2021 Lemon & Paeroa launched a campaign named "Space Manu". It started with a man in space, dressed in a space suit, who jumps from a platform to free fall to the ground, stripping down to his shorts, and eventually landing in a pool where he does a cannonball dive or manu.[37]

In 2023 Lemon & Paeroa started Manu Applied Sciences Aotearoa (MASA) with a logo that looks similar to the one of NASA. They created a manu L&P swimsuit featuring an advertisement in outer space. The creative director of the campaign said that it was inspired by comments on their 2021 space advertisement. The swimsuit was made to be practical for doing the manu.[38]

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