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I think these are nice points to focus on:
1. Focus on image. Most bottled water labels depict mountains and glaciers, which make consumers assume that the water comes directly from a mountain stream. This isn’t necessarily true. For example, Aquafina’s logo features white-tipped mountains, but the product is merely treated tap water. It isn’t nice to lie to your customers, but you do want to promote the image you’re selling.
2. Turn consumers into connoisseurs. Bottled water companies encourage consumers to focus on the flavor of their water. Fiji Water “has a smooth, silky mouthfeel,” company executive Thomas Mooney told the Washington Post. If you don’t ask to be perceived as a quality product, you won’t be. However, when people don’t know what they’re drinking, tap water often comes out ahead. In one blind tasting, London’s tap water ranked third among water products; in another, at a high school in Atlantic City, more than a third of students chose tap water over two bottled options.
3. By positioning your product as a sign of wealth, it becomes desirable to people who are striving to reach the upper class. Back in thes, ordering a bottle of Perrier was viewed as a symbol of wealth and class. Before long, the beverage caught on among the middle class. As more and more companies began offering bottled water at lower price points, it became a “luxury” that just about anyone could afford.
4. Offer convenience. These days, bottled water is available just about anywhere drinks are sold. If you’re on the go, it’s generally easier to simply pay for a bottle of water than to seek out a public water supply. Likely as a result of the rise of bottled water, public drinking fountains have become less common — making consumers even more likely to buy bottled water.
5. Position your product as a solution to a problem. Generally, bottled water companies don’t position their product as an alternative to tap water — instead they market it as an alternative to the unhealthy soft drinks that consumers might otherwise buy when they go out. In Nestlé Pure Life’s recent advertising campaign, for instance, the company asks mothers to pledge to replace one sugary drink each day with the company’s water products. Bottled water may not have the best reputation these days… but it certainly beats that of soda.
