Abstract
Aquafina, wholly-owned by PepsiCo, Inc., is one of the leading manufacturers of beverages and cosmetics in the beverages and beauty and skincare industries. An initial brand image created with bottled water, made the company’s strategy to venture into the health and beauty industry viable, feasible and seemingly successful. With the brand name Aquafina had created, it was sure to venture into the skincare products and make a successful market niche. The bottled water brand and the skincare products seem to complement each other and the company was well comfortable to venture into and succeed in both markets. With a brand message that Aquafina would “Make your body happy” and the image of purity it had created with the bottle water brand, the company was sure to make a success with the skincare products.
Aquafina
Identify the Core Product that is being offered? What are the actual and augmented parts of the product?
A trusted brand name with bottled water, Aquafina’s venture into the health and beauty industry was a strategy well executed. Aquafina’s Advanced Hydration RX, a 10-SKU skincare line from licensee Added Extras is the product being offered by the company. According to Charles Riotto, president at International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Assn., New York, Aquafina’s Advanced Hydration RX 10-SKU skincare line, is “a leap and a half from the core products”. With the image of purity, and the tagline that Aquafina products are to “Make your body happy”, the skincare products sure made a success in the market.
The portfolio of products in the Aquafina skincare range, the Advanced Hydration RX, include the foaming cleanser, a clarifying toner and a facial scrub, a facial mask, daytime moisturizer with SPF, nighttime moisturizer, under-eye cream, wrinkle release and sealer, targeted renewal treatment and hydrating facial spray. The products outlined on the company website are; Aquafina Daytime Replenishment Moisturizer with SPF 15, Daily Balance and Clarity Toner, Hydrating Facial Spray, Moisture Replenishing and Exfoliating Facial Scrub, Overnight Recovery Retinyl, Complex Moisturizer, Purifying Daily Cleanser, Targeted Renewal and Restoration Serum, Under Eye Cream, Wrinkle Release and Sealer.
Into which consumer product classification does the product fall? Explain. What does this classification mean for design of their marketing strategy – what must be the primary focus – why?
The Advanced Hydration RX, a 10-SKU skincare line, falls into the health and beauty product classification. With the range of products aimed at hydrating and moisturizing the skin, health and beauty seem to be the main target industry for these products making the classification under the health and beauty the right kind of products classification.
Aquafina marketing strategy is to moisturize and hydrate the body. Its marketing logo tells the customers that Aquafina wants to “Make your body happy”. The range of products in the Advanced Hydration RX 10-SKU skincare line, are all aimed at fulfilling the company’s marketing strategy to make it a health and beauty product manufacture. According to Charles Riotto “People associate Aquafina with purity, which is the type of thing consumers, would look for in facial cleansers.”
The move helps extend the Aquafina brand name from the beverage aisle to the cosmetics aisle.” The primary focus should therefore be health and beauty since water is for moisturizing the body and the skincare range is for skincare. In marketing their product, Aquafina has sought to bring out the skincare range of products’ benefits such as functionality, quality and brand by outlining the highly sought ingredients such as QuSomes whose benefit of high absorption most consumers would desire.
Identify the individual product and brand decisions. Why did they make these decisions?
The Advanced Hydration RX is a brand aimed at complementing and extending the Aquafina product line. The extension is a natural fit for the water brand, said Debra Joester, president at Joester Loria Group, New York, which brokered the deal. “Hydration is the basis of any effective skincare product and Aquafina delivers on the promise of hydration.” Skincare and beverages are becoming a hot combination (Ebenkamp, 2007). The decision for PepsiCo to extend the Aquafina products and brand from the beverage to health and beauty was a success story as seen from the successful launch and sales of the Aquafina Hydrating Lip Oil, the anti-acne chocolate bar and subsequent products.
Evaluate the marketing strategy and include your marketing recommendations.
Currently Aquafina’s marketing strategy is to make products and brand for health and beauty sectors. By using the brand image of purity, Aquafina’s marketing logo is to tell the customers and target market that the products are to “Make the body happy”. The marketing and distribution channels targeted by Aquafina include; retail, drug chains and mass merchants in August. Support will include print, Internet and exposure at trendy events.
The target top-notch print media campaign would target the women’s beauty, health and fitness publications such as Allure and InStyle. The beauty product line will also be promoted at Aquafina-sponsored events such as the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals and New York Fashion Week. By making the product appealing to the women’s beauty and health; purity, absorption by using “QuSomes” technology, which is touted as good for absorption and strategic partnerships would help enhance the image and appeal of the product.
Having tested the market success by the launch o the Aquafina Hydrating Lip Oil in national retailers and specialty stores, the company was sure to make a success with the range of Advanced Hydration RX. So far, the Aquafina beauty product line seems to have had a success story as shown by the successful launch of the Aquafina anti-acne chocolate bar that sold out of 25, 000 bars in just two and a half months.
Promotion is one strategic marketing process that Aquafina has employed to ensure growth of market niche for its products especially the skincare range of products that it recently introduced to the market. By targeting women, their health and beauty, Aquafina seeks to use trendy events that relate to fashion, a women’s greatest interest area. Print media campaign in magazines such as Allure is one great strategy that proves Aquafina’s ability to strategically target a market niche that it would be sure to sell the products – to the women.
Do your own research and provide updates on the product and its market performance.
The Aquafina skincare product line has had a great success story since inception in the market. In the years that the company started as a bottled water brand company, its competition in the market was high though it made a brand name and image that would ensure success in the market. According to Katie Bird (2008),
Aquafina is one of the biggest selling water brands in the US and the company’s Aquafina Enhanced Hydration skin care range benefits from consumer associations between water and health and the extensive advertising budget behind the brand.
The success of the brand name and the parent company’s image, PepsiCo, Inc., steered Aquafina’s skincare range of products to a successful debut and market growth through the years. Competing with brands such as L’Oreal in the market means that the Aquafina beauty products have attained their share of stable market niche and brand image to make their growth rapid and continual in the coming years.
Marketing strategies such as the marketing of the product saw the Aquafina management’s decision to brand the beauty products image success using the brand image it had built with bottled water. The cost leaderships strategy seems to be working for Aquafina’s market leadership. The company had he capability to produce and market the skincare products yet price them just low enough to attract many buyers. Having the QuSomes technology in the production means that Aquafina is able to stand out as the first company to employ this technology in their products. This works magic in terms of differentiating the products from the competing products by creating an image of uniqueness.
One important strategy also employed by Aquafina in marketing the skincare products is the focus strategy that seeks to target a specific potential market bound to make the product a success in the market. This strategy is evident in Aquafina’s decision to target the women as the core, though not the only, market for its health and beauty products.
References
Becky Ebenkamp (2007). Aquafina Adds Beauty SKUs To Enhance Liquid Assets.
Retrieved April 27, 2009, from http://www.brandweek.com/bw/esearch/ article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003581515
Aquafina Skincare (2009). Aquafina Advanced Hydration RX Premium Skincare.
Retrieved April 27, 2009, from http://www.aquafinaskincare.com/product_center.asp?dept_id=1002
Bird, K (2008). Enhanced water drives US beauty food market. Retrieved April 27,
2009, from http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Health-condition- categories/Skin-health/Enhanced-water-drives-US-beauty-food-market
