Background
Smartwater is a brand of premium-bottled water owned by Glaceau, a beverage company, which also produces VitaminWater and VitaminWater ZERO. Glaceau was founded in 1996 by J. Darius Bikoff under the name Energy Brands, with Smartwater as its first product. In 2007, Glaceau was acquired by Coca-Cola Inc., but remains a virtually independent brand under that name. Smartwater positions itself as a calorie-free, electrolyte-enhanced beverage, which sets it apart from the other bottled water available on the market. The brand attempts to appeal to health-conscious consumers who want nutrient-rich but low calorie sport beverage. Smartwater and its cross brands, VitaminWater and VitaminWater ZERO have been very successful, seeing substantial profit gains in the past ten years. Glaceau’s direct competition in the market is Nestle, which remains the top manufacturer of bottled water worldwide. Consumers are especially concerned in this day in age with low sugar and low calorie or calorie free beverages, and view the Glaceau brands as healthy options. Unfortunately, Glaceau, along with the other bottled water companies, have had to compete with tap water, as the rise in consumer concern with cost and environmental effects have decreased sales. Consumers have become increasingly aware of the environmental effects of plastic bottles and bottled beverages, encouraging companies to alter their corporate practices. Large brand beverage companies have also seen a rise in the number of consumers who attempt to save money by switching to bulk water or buy home water filters. The area where Smartwater may have the possibility of avoiding this competition, however, is in the product benefits. The product is electrolyte-enhanced, which gives it a competitive edge over tap water. Smartwater’s main competitors are its own cross brands, which gives the company a gain in the marketplace.
Target Audience
The target audience for this advertising campaign is young,
active men and women with disposable incomes. Because water can be a difficult
product to sell, we would like to target an audience who is looking for more
than plain water, and would like to experience the product’s benefits; the
audience must see the brand as superior to the competition. Our target audience
would fall in the 15-35 year-old age range, as these are the people to whom the
product will appeal most. Young people have the most disposable income, and are
more susceptible to branding and peer influences. We will not target older
groups, as they are more concerned with saving money. Our target audience is
concerned with a healthy lifestyle and is very active, without much time spent
in the home, which suggests the need for a healthy bottled beverage.
Thoughts and Feelings
Current attitudes of Smartwater are clearly positive, seeing as the company has had a steady increase in sales over the past ten five years. The brand has seen such growth over the other bottled water companies because of its differentiated position over plain bottled water. Smartwater is able to set itself apart, especially with its current advertising campaign, using popular celebrities, such as Jennifer Aniston and Tom Brady. Current attitudes of the brand are positive, and encourage a pure, active lifestyle. However, while the brand continues to grow, it will need to address the competition of tap water and companies who make water filtration systems for the home.
Objectives
Our product, Smart Water, falls into the third quadrant of the Foote, Cone and Belding Grid model. This is a low-involvement, thinking product requiring reminder advertisements.
Response hierarchy model:
Cognitive- Awareness, Knowledge
· Develop interactive website to engage target market
· Provide educational information to consumers regarding the benefits of Smart Water
· Distinguish the difference between enhanced water versus tap water and why consumers should spend the extra money for a luxury water brand
Affective: Liking, Preference, Conviction
· Establish Smart Water as a luxury brand for the most health-conscious consumers
· Use reminder advertising to keep the brand fresh in the minds of consumers
· Use comparative advertising to highlight the fact that Smartwater is pure water with only electrolytes added, as opposed to other vitamin-enhanced waters where the character of the water is altered
Outcomes
- Create a brand awareness for Glaceau Smartwater
- Increase market share by 15% within one year (Smartwater held 45% of market share in premium water category as of January 2010)
- Establish Smartwater as a product for the more health-savvy consumers who are well educated regarding health benefits; luxury brand for premium water
- Gain 20% brand awareness within one year
- Encouraging action from the target market of children, teens, and adults ages 18-24
Campaign Theme/Slogan
Our campaign theme will be, “So Smart, It Should Be Called Genius Water.” We want to attract the target market of savvy, ahead of the game, health conscious individuals. This is where the term genius comes into play. We are trying to shift the Big Idea, focusing more on how this water is beneficial to the consumer and better than the rest. This product is smart. It is a new type of bottled water with added nutrients, making it all around better water. Smartwater is inspired by the natural process of water. The sun heats the earth, which is covered with water, causing evaporation. Water molecules rise up into the sky where vapor condenses and forms clouds; raindrops then fall to the earth to complete the cycle. The very first drop of that rain is as fresh and pure as water gets before it falls through the sky picking up pollutants. This process is mimicked with Smartwater by vapor distilling Smartwater, making it as pure as the very first drop of rain. To top it off, electrolytes are added for faster hydration. We are the water scientists of the generation and want to educate our market.
Mock-up of Print Ad:
Behavioral Outcomes and Call to Action
We want our customer base to do most of the word-of-mouth advertising. They are the ones who know why this water is the best. In reference to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point,” the term to describe our target base and their behavior outcomes, would be Mavens. These people are information specialists. They accumulate knowledge, and share the word to others. Mavens try to solve other’s people’s problems and begin the word-of-mouth epidemics. Our goal is to have this occur with our target market. These individuals know how Smartwater is the best choice of water and they hopefully will spread this information to others.
Creative Execution
Our creative execution is going to consist of using our spokesperson, Albert Einstein, explaining in detail the process our water goes through. This goes through an in depth perception and very intricate view of the water purification process. We want to visually show how this water is smart. How this water is natural, pure and has the added electrolytes. Having an interactive website in order to engage the audience. In addition, we want to somehow implement social media into our campaign. As the most modern and innovative form of marketing today, implementing social media into our marketing strategy will undoubtedly put our brand a step above the rest. By giving an avenue for our consumers to make suggestions, comments, and advice through social media, it will increase brand awareness and get the name Smartwater out in public eye.
Mediums
What is the plan for delivering the message? What is the best combination of media channels to deliver the campaign elements (TV, print, radio, internet, etc.)? Give examples within the recommended channels (i.e. which magazines, internet site, TV programs, cable shows, etc.)
To deliver our message, we plan to use many different mediums. One key factor regarding mediums is the fact that Smart water historically has not used TV advertising to promote their products. Being a low-involvement product, it may not have been necessary. We feel that with all of the up-and-coming water companies, such as those using philanthropic causes as promotions, introducing the use of TV advertisements would greatly benefit the Smart water brand. We predict that this shift in media will gain a significant market share and increase brand awareness.
The popularity of social media websites is also an influential factor in choosing mediums for which to advertise our product. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter are accessed primarily by our target market audience- children, teens, and adults ages 18-24. These sites represent a viable goldmine in which to gain market share. Since internet advertising is a fairly new phenomenon, and therefore fairly inexpensive, this is a very economically sound medium in which to advertise Smart Water.
· TV
o Discovery Health
o ABC, ABC Family- Newscasts
o NBC
o CW- primetime shows (Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, etc)
o MTV/VH1
o ESPN
o TBS
o A&E
o TLC
o E!
o Oxygen
o Lifetime
· Print
o Sports Illustrated
o Shape
o Women’s Health
o Men’s Health
o Cosmopolitan
o GQ
o Self
o Good Housekeeping
o Family
· Radio
o Various local stations across the nation to promote to the local market
· Internet
o News websites
o Page skins
o Interactive banners showing vaporization process
o Interactive Smart water website
§ Option to customize labels
§ Education about vaporization process
· Social Media
o Facebook
o MySpace
o Twitter
Strategic Fit to the Brand
As consumers turn to low-calorie beverages and “high-performance” water, Smartwater has remained competitive in the market. This is due in large to them being able to reproduce the hydrologic process in Smartwater, simply by vapor distilling the water. This gives consumers the most pure form of water. The new campaign theme is consistent with Smartwater’s commitment to providing a high-performance beverage purified through highly innovative and scientific techniques. As a brand they have created a beverage that contains health advantages such as added electrolytes for faster hydration. Smartwater markets their products by using witty and clever language, which appeals to the health savvy, body conscious, and “all natural” minded customer. They are concerned with educating consumers about the added benefits of Smartwater without bombarding customers with an overly complicated explanation about the science behind their products. The new slogan, “So Smart is should be called Geniuswater,” plays on the consumers already existing knowledge about the benefits of Smartwater while encouraging new consumers to find out why.
Budget and Conclusion
The overall marketing budget amounts to $15 million dollars to include print media, television and out of home advertising. We plan to unveil the campaign in April 2011 ending in April 2012. We have determined that the best time to initiate the campaign is two months before summer begins. In terms of media scheduling we plan to follow a pulsing model in which we will engage in continuous scheduling while advertising heavily during peak selling periods. These periods include post-holiday months (January and February) when consumers create a diet-plan to combat post-holiday weight. The second period is during the months before summer when people begin to think about getting fit for the season.
Conclusion
The campaign aims to bring Smartwater to the forefront of consumers’ minds, positioning itself at the pinnacle of bottled water brands. It aims to become the most widely recognized and widely used of all brands: to appeal to not just the smartest of water drinkers, but the most genius.
Sources
Bottled Water- US- November 2009. Rep. Mintel. Web. 16 Nov. 2010, <http://http://0academic.mintel.com.sally.sandiego.edu/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=393528/display/id=496905>.
Glaceau’s Boring History. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. http://www.glaceau.com/.
Smartwater. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.glaceau.com/>.
