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3.

GLACAU: MARKETING VITAMINWATER


a.
According to Rohan Oza, Senior Vice president, Marketing Glacau, The one
brand that was creating a new category the way Gatorade did with sports drinks and
Snapple did with tea and Red Bull did with energy drinks was Glacau Vitamin water. In
the light of this statement, analyse the strategic plans adopted by the company in
marketing Vitamin water.
Suggested answer
Glacau was the pioneer and leader of the enhanced water category. The Glacau brand was
widely recognized as one that had revolutionized the beverage industry gaining a significant
foothold in a fearlessly competitive and saturated market. Glacau range of enhanced water
product comprised Vitamin water, smart water and fruit water.
Glacau maintained close contact with the customers in order to understand their taste and
preferences. It was priced higher than the other soft drinks; however it defended the higher price
for higher value it provided. Its product was different in various aspect including packaging,
appearance, labels and ingredients. Glaceau used packaging as means of communicating with the
customers as it used different names for different avours. All the labels had details information
of their uses. It advocated healthy living through low-calorie, low sugar drinks, and noncarbonated water with additional nutritional supplements.
Promotion
Initially, Glacau was supported by celebrities such as pop stars Britney Spears, Madonna,
actress Nicole Kidman and socialite Paris Hilton which was featured on some of the popular
magazines. It took Glaceau four years to launch a major ad campaign for which company spent
US $ 5 million. It was titled every day needs more. The billboards of Vitamin water placed in
major metro markets. Campaign aimed at educating the customers about the features of vitamin
water and caught the attention of the customers all across the country. The functionality of the
vitamin water was showcased through humorous illustrations of animated figures in various
exaggerated situations. Glaceau launched 39 tasting vans, popularly known as Glaceau testing
vehicles, offering passers to taste its products. Other events such as DJ in the local radio stations,
setting up hydrology booths used to spread information about the merits of vitamin water to the
customers.
Vitamin water was well-known for its long list of celebrity endorsers, including entertainers such
as rap artist 50 Cent. Vitamin water dedicated a flavour, called Formula 50, to the performer. The
event was termed as grassroots, guerrilla marketing. Glacau had been successful in bringing the
customers into the retail stores for its product through this event. The endorsements with
celebrities continued and in 2005, several athletes and entertainers were chosen to endorse
Glaceau products. In 2006, Glacau launched a program Vitamin School to promote healthy
eating among school children. Glacau also advertised vitamin water through a freestanding
insert near Metro in New York in order to give the users a chance to sample the product.
Place

Glacau avoided supermarket chains till it could afford the slotting fee and concentrated on mom
& pop stores. From there vitamin water moved organic food stores and retailers and later on to
Albertsons and Safeway food stores. Instead of tackling several markets at once, it was launched
in one market at a time in order to build the brand with the support of entire team members. To
establish a good market position in California, it conducted a competition between two of their
distributors to see who could open up more accounts. The company also encouraged the
distributors to put in more efforts toward vitamin water through various offerings. By 2004
Glaceau had identified 10 target markets. Marketing managers were responsible for carrying out
sampling & coordinating media activities. Glaceau believed in marinating personal touch with
distributors. By 2006, vitamin water was available all across the US, through 50.000 freestanding
branded colours.
Conclusion
Glaceau generated brand awareness, respect and most importantly brand loyalty among targeted
customers. Notwithstanding the success of vitamin water, industry expert felt that production
may face stiff competition from the established players like Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which were
launching their own enhanced water product owing to their growing popularity. However, the
long-term sustenance of Glaceau could depend on bringing out new products in different
categories and widening its customers base.

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