Marketing mix vitamin water

MARKETING MIX

PRODUCTO

Descripcion Del producOt: VitaminWater is credited with creating the enhanced water category. The water itself isde-ionized and distilled, and contains herbal extracts, vitamins and minerals, a differentiatingfactor that has given it its “healthy” image. VitaminWater also contains a level of corn syrupfructose that is similar to that in other sweetened soft drinks.Bright colors and a variety of flavors, each with its own unique purpose (i.e. energy, clarity, increased metabolism, etc.), offer distinction from regular water and sports drink beverages.Aside from the drink itself, VitaminWater is also known for its distinctive bottle shapeand color-blocked label. Lined up on a supermarket or convenient store shelf, the assortmentresembles a can’t-be-missedrainbow. Humorous copy, in all lower case type, is used on thelabels in order to correspond to the brand’s quirky and youthful image. For example, copy fromthe Power-C label reads:"Legally, we are prohibited from making exaggerated claims about the potencyof the nutrients in this bottle. Therefore, legally we wouldn't tell you that after drinking this, Eugene from Kansas started using horseshoes as athigh master or that this drink gave Agnes from Delaware enough strength to bench-press llamas."The variety of flavors appeals to VitaminWater’s core generation X and Y target market,as well as to its peripheral market of soccer moms and younger, highly influenced kids. The product’s bright coloring and quirky labeling mirrors the imagery and verbiage that today’s MTVand MySpace generations arefamiliar with and interact with on a daily basis. Plus, the vitaminsand other health benefits are attractive to this same group, while also extending to older, health-conscious individuals.

Product – Analysis and Conclusions:
● As vitamin supplements are attractive to the health-conscious, VitaminWater is using its nameand its vitamin ingredients to present itself as a health-conscious drink,even though its sugar content is no less than that in a regular Coca Cola or other soft drink. There is an inconsistency here in terms of what the product stands for in the consumers’ mind, and what the productactually is. Customers may not have yet caught on to this discrepancy in a widespread manner,although once they do, drop-off (at least amongst the health-conscious demographic) willlikely become an issue. At this point, Vitamin Water would need to decide how to re-position itself sothat its brand image and name are more inline with its actual product contents.
● While the copy on the product labels are meant to be fun and quirky, the labels themselves,while distinguishable, do not correspond to this lightheartedness. The simple color-blocking and black print (no images) are graphicallydry in comparison to the overall brand image.
● The majority of Vitamin Water’s consumers are young, and therefore fickle with short attentionspans. Currently, the consumer experiences minimal interaction with the product, as there is onlyone type of product available: a sugary beverage. With the strong branding that VitaminWater has built, there is likely a larger potential for brand fans toincorporate other VitaminWater  products into their lifestyles. Such an extension has not yet been explored
Product Recommendations:

To take advantage of the lifestyle branding potential, and to reach consumers in manyaspects of their lives, VitaminWater should consider offering extensions (in order to develop afamily of related products) to its original enhanced beverage line. Packaging andcopy styleswould be consistent with that of the current product. The ultimate goal is to create a lifestyle brand that consumers can relate to with a “this brand is for someone like me” statement. For example:
1.Limited Edition Flavors: to add buzz and immediacy to the brand and product.Constant newness keeps current customers on the lookout for the next flavor.

2.A zero calorie line,...