Bottled Water Packaging Comparison
In case you hadn’t noticed, bottled water has become quite a big business in the last 10 years. The larger an industry gets, the more time and effort gets put into packaging and marketing. Let us take a look at how the packaging and marketing can affect consumer decision.
As with any industry, it is always entertaining to start with a few facts.
Quick Bottled Water Facts:
- $11 Billion US Market
- Average American consumed 28.3 gallons of water last year
- 2nd most consumed beverage in the US (after soft drinks)
With big business come big companies to compete. The top three bottled water brands and their parent companies that we will look at are: Aquafina (PepsiCo), Dasani (Coca-Cola) and Poland Spring (Nestlé).
Aquafina
Slogan: Pure Water. Perfect Taste.
Aquafina’s bottle is the widest one of the three throughout the body. The immediate downside of the wide body is that people with smaller hands, primarily women and children, will find it more difficult to hold than the other brands. This may not seem like a major issue, but when you consider the fact that most bottled water is made for taking somewhere, such as on a run or to school, it becomes a hindrance.
The bottom of the bottle has the usual four legs that a soft drink bottle has (no surprise here, since PepsiCo is the maker), which makes the bottle needlessly taller and easier to tip over.
The mouth of the bottle is also the widest of the three, which may resonate well with athletes who need a quick swig, but again is a hindrance for someone who has a meeting in 5 minutes and doesn’t want to be doused in water.
As far as the label goes, Aquafina sports a mid-range blue background with blue and white mountains and a setting red sun. While blue is the most liked color in the world, I find it does a disservice in this particular instance. Isn’t “pure” water supposed to be clear? Additionally, the mountains on the background are deceptive advertising - Aquafina draws its water from municipal water supplies and then does “reverse osmosis” on it …not quite the same thing as water coming from a mountain. The FDA identifies this type of water as “Purified Water”.
Lastly, the one aspect of caps that is always overlooked is how easy it is to open. Many caps tend to scratch your hand or be extraordinarily tough to open. Aquafina’s white cap is one cap that suffers from this ailment. I actually avoid Aquafina water for just this reason…I’m tired of fighting to drink my water.
Dasani
Slogan: Make your mouth water.
The simplest way to describe the shape of Dasani’s bottle is the following: it looks like a rocket. I’m not sure what the rocket does for my perception of their water, but at least it’s a bit easier to hold than Aquafina’s bottle.
The bottom of Dasani’s bottle has (once again) a four-legged base, which tips over more easily than Aquafina’s due to its narrower footprint.
The label on Dasani water is a dark blue with a white typeface “Dasani”. The blue is so dark that the immediate association that comes to mind is “ocean” or “deep water”. The idea of water is right, but do I really want to drink “ocean water”? I don’t think so. Like Aquafina, Dasani uses municipal water and purifies it, so ocean water doesn’t even accurately represent what that bottle contains.
The cap on Dasani is the same color as the label. It is much easier to open than Aquafina’s, but for some reason reminds me of Pepsi (same color). That is odd, since Coca Cola is Dasani’s parent company…shouldn’t the caps look more like Coke bottles?
Poland Spring
Slogan: What it means to be from Maine.
Poland Spring has the best packaging hands down. The standard shape of their water bottle is narrow enough for small hands, has a flat base that doesn’t tip over, and doesn’t take up unnecessary space. They also have different shaped bottles depending on the size of the bottle, which they have identified for different uses. For example, the Aquapod is an 11 OZ. bottle that looks fun, and is marketed towards kids. They also have stackable 3 Liter bottles which are easy to pour from (ideal for a family meal).
The label on Poland Spring has the unmistakable green trees in the background and the large logo on the front. The logo shows trees and a river flowing between them. The immediate thought that pops into your head when you see that label is “natural”, and that is indeed their edge in the water market - they use spring water from Maine, instead of “purified” water.
Although caps vary with the size bottle, Poland Spring changed many of their white caps in 2005 to clear caps. The clear cap looks “cleaner” and is soft on the hands, making it very attractive. It could even be a fashion statement.
The Round Up
Just a few years ago, Poland Spring was the leading bottled water seller in the US. It has since been overtaken by Aquafina and Dasani, but not because of better packaging. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo used the leverage they have in the soft drink market, namely all of their existing vending contracts to put their brand of water in vending machines all over the USA (especially at universities, stadiums, and other large public gathering points). These two soft drink titans also had supply deals with large retail chains like 7-Eleven and could force them to carry that brand.
Contrast this with Nestle, which is a household name for chocolate, and you can tell why they have had a harder time distributing their Poland Spring brand successfully. As a result of this, Poland Spring is a more common purchase in supermarkets in bulk packaging. We have all seen the 6 pack and 24 pack of Poland Spring
As long as Poland Spring continues to be innovative about their packaging and stand for “water”, they will be able to hold on. Since Poland Spring is only known for water, they have a major advantage under the “Sharp Knife Through Soft Butter” Marketing Technique that I discussed in a different article. Dasani and Aquafina are commonly known to be owned by soft drink giants, where few people know who owns Poland Spring. They are the more specific brand, and therefore the “Kleenex” of the water brands.
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February 21st, 2007 at 12:32 am
Very interesting information on bottled water. However, there is now an additive that can really improve bottled water and can provide nutrition and antioxidants very easily to bottled water.
James,
I am aware of those, and didn’t cover them mostly because we are just dealing with packaging design here.
The jury is still out whether your body can actually absorb the nutrients that are added in artificially. It will be interesting to see what research finds. For the time being, I think it’s usually a waste of money to buy flavored or “nutrient” water, if for no other reason than the fact that they usually have artificial sweetners, which have been linked in the past to cancer.
February 21st, 2007 at 1:36 am
Check out H2O Blast. It is a brand new product. There is no artificial sweeteners. It is all natural. Believe it or not there is a natural antioxidant potential of 800 ORAC units per gram (compared to 24 ORAC units per gram for blueberries) or a guaranteed 3000 ORAC units per servings with no calories plus it helps make the body akaline and it tastes great. It really is a great breakthrough. 100% natural with a 0 glycemic index. It comes from the coffee bean fruit that is generally thrown away when the bean is processed. You seem like a very informed individual so this should really be of interest to you. Check it out!
February 21st, 2007 at 11:27 am
Heool,
If you are going to talk about packaging I think business models to discuss are TYANT, VOSS and BLING as examples.
If you are talking about additives may I acquaint you with my inventon FiberWater (a generic descriptive only) for which patents are issued or pending in 40 countries on 6 continents. FiberWater looks, feels and tastes like pure water. One 500ml bottle contains 25% of your daily fiber requirement. I have another issued patent that allows me to nutritionally fortify any liquid using encapsulations and fortified particles to protect the ingredients and also to allow me to control their release.
Thank you for this opportunity,
Suzanne Jaffe Stillman Inventor
March 7th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
If you believe these extra additives to water are so healthy, why don’t you buy them in pills? Those pills plus tap water might be much cheaper than bottled water, because you don’t have to pay for the brand and the transport. You can also better determine the right dosage with pills than with water.
And are higher than natural amounts of anti-oxidants really healthy? You know, the immune system uses oxidants (oxigen radicals to be exact) to kill virus. The burning of ATP, the body’s gasoline, is also a huge oxidation. I wouldn’t want to mess with that, without having scientific results that it is actually healthy.
There is some research that shows that certain vitamins (including Vitamin E) are not healthy for you to have too much of. Vitamin C on the other hand, if you have too much of it, the likely result will simply be diarrhea.
More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_poisoning
March 7th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
These additives come in a small premeasured packet and are added to any water bottle or glass and you can use tap water or any source you want. You need to check it out before arguing about something you are not familiar with. Antioxidants fight free radicals and not oxygen radicals. This is a natural antioxidant. It come from the coffee bean fruit. What do you mean natural amounts of antioxidants?
There is no diarrhea, I have been using this product for more than a month. I have never heard where antioxdants are bad for you from any place.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:31 am
Oxygen radicals are just one type of free radicals. A radical is merely a molecule, where an electron is missing. This is why they are so reactive and change almost everything they come in contact with.
With my post I wanted to point to two different issues:
First is that the human body has had thousands of years to tune itself to the chemistry around it. While evolution does not have to be optimal, it works mostly very good. Now there are some people, who say radicals are the reason for aging. They are probably right, but the assumption that just reducing the radicals in the body will help it is not based on knowledge, but believe. The downside is, that you are messing with the chemistry balance, which changes the natural amounts of the chemicals in your body. By that you are betting that you know better than evolution, but you do not have enough research done to base that bet.
The second point is, that additives put into water are used to create diversified products, with the aim to increase the revenue with the product. For a grocery this is the only way to grow, because the market is saturated and a human can only eat that much of food. So they try to sell stuff, for which they can ask more money and make the customer leave more money in the shop. I believe addidives in water (same as branding) are a marketing trick which works as a disadvantage for customers.
April 15th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Poland Spring recently changed some the caps on their 1 pint bottles– now it’s a clear blue plastic “flip top” cap that’s impossibly difficult to open. i’ve actually drawn blood opening the caps, not to mention squirting water everywhere. Am I the only one having this problem? the bottles im referring to are sold in new york city.
June 2nd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I swear by Disani’s addition of potassium and magnesium. It seems like I wake up with more energy. I am taking a diuretic that causes some potassium loss.
October 30th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
[…] I first covered this in my Bottled Water Packaging Comparison a while back, and since then have also learned that in 2004 Coca-Cola had to stop selling Dasani in the UK because of the public outcry over selling municipal tap water back to people. […]
December 24th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Hi Pinny, interesting comparison. Myself I always go for the blue labels when it comes to bottled water, although I agree the shape of the Poland Spring bottle is superior.
Also, I find there’s a distinct male/female difference when it comes to spring versus purified water (in informal taste testing panels, i.e., relatives and friends visiting).
Women love the “charcoal sweet” taste of purified water. Spring water tastes bland by comparison.
Men (husband included) cannot understand why anyone would want to pay for purified tap water.
But to me and other women I know, it’s about taste. Purified water just tastes better. We know that it comes from a municipal source, but the source is not important to us. Taste is.
The alternative would be to drink my unfiltered municipal water, which travels 25 miles through old pipes from Lake Erie and has a pronounced moldy-overpowered-by-chlorine flavor by the time it reaches my tap. And it’s not at all pleasant tasting — even when you try to mask the taste with a lemon slice. I have to hold my breath to drink it.
Maybe some day someone will write about this male/female difference.
Anita,
Thank you for your thoughts, I’ll certainly consider that angle for a follow-up (adds to his to do list).