Blog #4 – U.S. Water Consumption Passes Cola

 

In reference to this external blog from brand channel, I am surprising to find that the water consumption in U.S. now passes the consumption of soft drinks. This may be due to the trend that obesity rates has been rising for the past decade, and thus people are now becoming more health conscious. To face this change, industry giants such as coca-cola and pepsi are offering their own product line of water to compete in the market. These big brands will certainly have an advantage over its competitors for their brand awareness, and loyal customers are more inclined to trust their brand thus continuing to buy products from them.

A while ago, we talked about in class how product packaging can transform a product to provide values for consumers, which is stated in the second article that “popularity was helped by the emergence of single-serve bottles that were easy to carry around”. In this case, simple tap water which can be accessed for free is being developed into a new product – bottled water. It is evident in the article that this product is now developing into a mature bottled water industry. In addition, new products such as enhanced and flavoured waters can also play a role in expanding the industry. Given this trend, it will not be surprising to see that in the near future, consumers will be shifting towards more healthy products. I wonder if the industry giants (coca cola and pepsi) will focus more on marketing their bottled water instead of soda although it is not as profitable as soda.

http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/business/vs-business/Water+overtakes+soda+America+real+thing/8080022/story.html

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/03/13/Water-Consumption-Soda-031313.aspx