marketing blog #3: vitamin water

After reading some of the blogposts written by my marketing classmates, Elizabeth’s blogpost about Vitamin Water’s sponsorship of Gossip Girl particularly caught my attention. Partly because I am a big fan of the show, but also because I’ve recently consumed a more-than-usual amount of Vitamin Water since they’ve became the only beverage for sale at my Bikram Yoga studio.

Target market:
Elizabeth mentioned that the target market of Vitamin Water was hard to identify, but to me, it has always seemed like Vitamin Water was meant for young people.   Since the majority of Gossip Girl’s audience consists of  teens and young adults, Vitamin Water has definitely gained an advantage in targeting these young people who dream of living in the elite world that is portrayed by the TV show. Moreover, each flavour/colour of vitamin water has its own label, and the descriptions on these labels feature slang terms such as “c’mon” and “LOL” – these are obviously meant for a younger audience.

Positioning:
The mission of Vitamin Water  is to provide “hydration for every occasion – morning, noon, night”), but I can’t find myself agreeing to it completely. First of all, when we go to supermarkets or convenience stores, Vitamin Water is always placed beside other soft drinks  in the cooler. This leaves people with the impression that Vitamin Water is just another soft drink consumed in casual occasions. Despite its effort to promote itself as an healthy alternative to soft drinks and that each colour/flavour has its own benefits, many people think of it as merely flavoured or sugared water with no clear distinction betwee the flavours. Also, the fact that Gossip Girl features people drinking Vitamin Water at a posh party from champagne flutes is a bit exaggerated. If Vitamin Water really wants to position itself as a luxury beverage, it must make changes to its marketing mix (ie. switch from plastic to glass containers, and raise its price.) As a result, I think Vitamin Water should narrow down its focus instead of trying to position itself as an all-purpose beverage.