Marketing Strategy of Aquafina – Aquafina Marketing Strategy

Aquafina is a brand of bottled water produced by PepsiCo under purified bottled water products. The brand was first distributed in Kansas in the year 1994 and then it was more widely sold across Spain, Lebanon, Spain, Canada, Iran, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, and Turkey. The bottled water is available in various flavor like the citrus twist and berry burst. It also has a sparkling variant.  Under the Aquafina brand, various other products like wrinkle cream and lip balm are also sold.

Aquafina uses various treatment processes like ozonation, charcoal filtration and several other filtration steps to ensure 100% purified water. Aquafina is available in 1.5-liter pet bottle, 1 liter, 24-ounce and also 20-ounce variants.

Segmentation targeting and positioning in the Marketing strategy Aquafina :

Aquafina has a niche type of market segmentation. It is a product that is for everyone who is looking to have a hygienic and pure drinking water. It has identified customers with similar wants, looking to satisfy peoples need while also meeting the objectives of the organization. Under behavioral segmentation, Aquafina tries to identify various occasions when people look to drink clean water like while traveling, playing sports, concerts, food courts, and cafes, etc. At different levels, Aquafina targets the market and that is the pet bottle and bulk (3-6 gallon) based on different requirements.

Targeting :

The target audience of Aquafina is the travelers, the sports enthusiast, concert goers and also during various events like weddings, etc. The main target audience for Aquafina is the health-conscious women who are looking to drink zero calorie products and men who are on the go.

Positioning :

Aquafina is positioned in the market as a very refreshing and cost-effective beverage that fulfills the market’s need for pure water. It is positioned as a brand that provides hygienic and pure water.

Mission: As people are moving towards a healthier and safer lifestyle, so Aquafina’s mission is to provide pure and healthy drinking water to its customers

Vision: To become a recognized and respected leader in the community we serve through demonstrated knowledge, integrity and quality of our actions

Tagline: The purest part of you

Competitive advantage in the Marketing Strategy of Aquafina

Purification process :

The main advantage Aquafina has over its competitors is the technology that the company has invested in to ensure 100% pure water to its consumers. The company has a state-of-the-art process that includes complex procedures like reverse osmosis and other processes that remove chlorides, salts and other substances that can alter the consistency of Aquafina water. The filtration protocols are very carefully designed and followed.

Brand diversification :

Aquafina does not only serve bottled water but also has sparkling water and various flavored water introduced in the market. The demand for carbonated soft drinks has been falling due to the customers’ truing into healthier alternatives.  PepsiCo has changed the focus to “value-added” packaged water that is fortified with vitamins and minerals etc. The Aquafina Vitamin Splash is priced at Rs 50 and Rs 30 with very less sugar content compared to the competitors.

BCG matrix in the Marketing strategy of Aquafina :

Aquafina is valued to be more than 1000 crore brand. For PepsiCo, the Aquafina brand is on the star quadrant. The brand holds a market share of 15% and comes second after Bisleri which has around 36% market share. Aquafina is growing and doing well in the market and is catching up with Bisleri and Aquafina aims to have double the current growth in the next 5 years with double the amount of sales. The company plans to keep on increasing value-added new products into its category. Since the soft carbonated drinks category is not doing well in the market, PepsiCo has been investing a huge sum on the product development and marketing of the Aquafina brand. So Aquafina is a star brand for PepsiCo.

Distribution in the Marketing strategy of Aquafina :

The bottled water of Aquafina is present in most of the departmental stores, small local stores and also in the medical stores. PepsiCo distributes the bottled water to businesses, schools, restaurants, cafes and also stadiums with the help of third-party operators and distributors. Aquafina uses wholesalers as the middlemen who ensure that the consumers get the bottled water at ease. The brand also makes sure that the products are available in fast food joints and foot chains because the probability of bottled water getting sold with the food is quite high.

This strategy has helped improve the overall sales of the Aquafina bottles. Differentiating the products in the bottled water category is quite difficult because if the water bottles are available in the stores, consumers hardly care of about the brand when choosing the products. Aquafina uses the very strong distribution network of PepsiCo, to ensure that the products are available worldwide and easily accessible to the people.

Brand equity :

Aquafina us a leading brand in the market of bottled water. One advantage Aquafina has over other brands is that it has significantly higher market share, especially in the emerging markets. The Beverage Marketing Corporation has claimed that the bottled water will surpass the carbonated soft drink category and will become the number one beverage in the US by 2018.

PepsiCo’s ownership of the Aquafina brand is hoping to give it good alternative revenue when the soft drinks market is running all time low. PepsiCo recently tested its new Aquafina Water Stations that provide flavored sparkling water and see how well will it do in the market. Such innovative products intended to provide a unique solution for the on-the-go hydration.

 Competitive analysis in the Marketing strategy of Aquafina

Bisleri is the number one competitor for Aquafina, and it has a very high market share and completely dominates the market. However, Aquafina has better performances in emerging markets.  In India, there are a huge number of private labels and duplicate brands have taken the market share for Aquafina. The regional and local brand is hugely affecting Aquafina’s growth in the Indian market.

In the A grade towns, that is where Aquafina and Bisleri dominate the market, these brands have not been able to penetrate well in the B and C grade town, where the fight is between Aquafina and the local brands. Aquafina was the largest seller of bottled water in the USA until 2010. Other brands like Kingfisher, McDowell’s No. 1, Bailley and Kinley are also popular in the Indian market. Bisleri has the highest market share of 36%, Coca Cola’s Kinley with 35% share and Aquafina with 15% share in the market.

Providing 100% pure water is a challenge. A new study found that 90% of companies that provide bottled water are contaminated with plastic and thus to stay on top of the competition Aquafina should invest on its capabilities and R&D to ensure better quality water.

Customer analysis :

The newly flavored brand of Aquafina targets 13-19-year-old young consumers. The billion-dollar brand is mostly consumed by people who are on-the-go and are looking for a branded and trustworthy product when it comes to packaged water. The consumers expect the bottled water to be readily available, has certain purification procedures ensuring 100% safety, is handy to carry and is at a good price point and Aquafina provides all of that. The revamped flavored water will fill the gap that exists for “zero-calorie, great tasting” product ranges for PepsiCo.

Promotion Strategy :

Aquafina uses a number of traditional advertisements strategies to sell its products such as radio, print, TV and also has unique online and digital marketing strategies to make sure the brand presence is good. Aquafina also uses social media to create hype about the products and consumer-generated videos helping to create a good brand image about the products.

The bottled water market is overcrowded and a point of differentiation is highly important. Aquafina believes that if there would be no efforts for branding, the competition would be on the price points and in that case, the private labels would do extremely well. With the help of its affiliation with PepsiCo Aquafina is able to create some point of differentiation.

Aquafina also highlights its purification processes while claiming the purity of the products. The consumers tend to believe more when such processes are shown to them, the trust factor increases.

In the form of contests, coupons and other giveaways Aquafina is consistently seen promoting its products. Various sponsorships for sports promotions, like sponsorships of the New York Giants, Major League Soccer, events like these have increased the visibility of the Aquafina brand.