1. Product Life Cycle of Vitamin water

We believed that vitamin water is in its Maturity stage of the Product Life Cycle. The product was launched in the U.S around the year of 2000. Most people are already aware or have at least a vague idea of what the product is and how to drink it, however because of the lack of traditional promotion on the TV, radio etc. vitamin water has been growing slowly. According to Mintel, even though vitamin water has gained 5% of the market share in the bottle water market vitamin water still needs to work on getting new consumers, and have those trier consumers become loyal. It is important for vitamin water to not only focuses on the first consumer experience, but also in reinforcing what the product and brand is in order to increase their sales.

2. Competition a. Primary Competition

The beverage industry is constantly competing with many of the new drinks that have been introduced into the market. According to Mintel, competition has been affected by price, interchangeable drink options, and by the companies acquisition of small and new beverage companies. The market for vitamin-enhanced water compete with new product innovation driven by health and wellness, and most products now offer almost the same benefits as the vitamin water products such as fruity flavored, antioxidants, minerals etc. For this reason, it is believed that the primary competition for Vitamin water is Gatorade, Propel, Powerade, and Snapple. These products compete directly in the vitamin enhanced water market because they provide to the consumer similar benefits such as high nutritional content, less calories, variety of fruity flavors, immunity boosters and vitamins. It is important to mention that results from a noncarbonated beverage research showed that consumers between the ages of 18-34 preferred to consume vitamin-enhanced water over fruit juice and sport drinks because of fruity flavor, less calories, vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, some products that are offered by our primary competition provide a better and stronger taste in comparison with vitamin water. For example, Snapple Juice has the same benefits as vitamin water, but what it makes it unique is the concentrated juice flavor. However, Gatorade, propel and powerade dont have a concentrated flavor, but yet they have been in the market for a longer period of time what allowed them to develop loyal consumers especially if they have products with low calories.

b. Secondary Competition

Vitamin water competes as well with secondary competitors that include: substitutes, home-made drinks and suppliers with private labels. Substitutes such as flavored powder natural mixes offer also similar attributes as vitamin water, and they even promote convenience among consumers, especially when it comes to travel it is easier for consumers to just get the small packages of mixes because it saves space. This mixes can also attract consumers who are environmentally driven, especially stressing the point of recycling and issues about bottle water. Home-made drinks are more natural, offer similar benefits, and they also offer a more concentrated flavor. In addition, consumers can mix different fruits and get their desired/favorite flavored that might not exist in the vitamin water market. The only fallback with home-made drinks is that it is more expensive and less convenient for the consumer to get it, whereas vitamin water is ready to drink and the price is way cheaper. Finally, private label products since some of the main retailers might have developed its own beverage product to sell on the market, making it perhaps difficult for vitamin water to be distributed at that retailer.

3. Pricing Approaches

The price for vitamin water ranges from $1.50-$2.50per bottle. The price varies a little bit depending on the retailer where the consumer purchase it, and also depending on the location where the consumer usually does his or her shopping. One of the pricing approaches for vitamin water is competition based pricing. Vitamin water has set a price that competes directly with its primary and secondary competitors, always trying to keep up a little bit higher or lower that the competitors price. In addition, there are times where some retailers have special offers such as selling the product for $0.99 per bottle, this then ends up being a loss leader. A second pricing approach would be Bundle price; the reason why is because vitamin water can also be sold in packages of 10 bottles for $10 dollars, this then saves the consumer 50 cents per bottle. Setting a bundle product can impact the sales of the product. Also, for makes it more convenient for loyal consumers to buy the product. Having both, a bundle price and a competition based pricing allows Vitamin water to reach different market segments. In one hand, it gives the consumer the chance to buy one bottle and try the product. Then depending on whether the consumer likes or not the product it would lead to the purchase of more than one bottle. Hence, the bundle price comes into action by offering packages of the product for a cheaper price.

4. Branding

Two elements that make vitamin water have a good branding strategy are colors and social media. Glaceau is Vitamin Water brand, and they have maintained a hip image throughout its expansion. Vitamin water comes in different shades of the rainbow colors, and each comes with a name that identifies a specific thirst relief. Vitamin water is a drink that seeks to satisfy overall health and wellness of the consumer. For this reason, giving an identity to each color balances perfectly the main approaches of the product itself. Also, with these variations of colors and names, the products approaching the consumers physical, emotional and spiritual appeals. The colors used in each flavored can also be seen as transformational communication objectives because it transforms the consumption experience of each consumer. In this case the colors create a feeling in the consumers that creates an image about the brand in the consumer brand so that every time the consumer sees it will link it with the vitamin water brand.

The second element is social media. Vitamin water created advertising through Facebook and Myspace. Glaceaus website leads the consumer directly to vitamin water Facebook page which is a good way to attract the consumer to see the product and especially to see what people in the social world are saying about the product. The page has more than 3 million likes and it has helped to establish a good relationship with the consumer. Also, the Facebook page was used to increase the consumer involvement with the product by creating a flavor contest in which the consumer collaborated with the creation of a new flavor. Particularly this was a good strategy because the contest not only helped Glaceau with the development of a new flavor, but it also helped them to know what the consumer wanted in their vitamin water as well as to analyze their consumers. Finally the last element that is believed to be improved is the web store. The website itself is not that easy to manage, especially when it comes to give the consumer a good online experience. The fact that Glaceau has the Facebook page link to their website is good and bad as well. It is bad because if the consumer wants to find more information about the product it will lead him to a place where that information is not listed. The web store needs to be more user-friendly. In order for them to make it more user-friendly they will first need to make sure that the consumer knows that vitamin water brand is Glaceau. If the consumer does not know this they will have a hard time knowing or identifying the official website that they need to go to buy the product online.

5. Hierarchy of Effects

Based on the information on Vitamin water and the way that consumers have responded towards the products, it is believed that vitamin water is in the adoption promotional objective of the Hierarchy effects. The reason why is because consumers have already tried the product once or twice, but they havent become loyal to the product or brand itself. For vitamin water it is important to develop consumer loyalty especially with the vast variety of competition in the bottled water market. By doing so it will also help to represent more than a nutritional or enriched drink, it needs instead to be also seen as a product that will make the consumer healthier because they consume Vitamin water. Hence, once this has been established in the consumers mind they will be more likely to be loyal to the product and buy more often that someone who doesnt. In addition, by establishing consumer loyalty they will also become more known through word of mouth, a method that seems to drive consumers to purchase a product based on their social needs.

6. Integrated Marketing Communication Tools

One of the tools that Vitamin water used in this year was sales promotion though a campaign that they launched during the Olympic Games. The main idea or focus of the campaign was to create contests in the streets of London where people could play different games and have the opportunity to win tickets to Jessie J concert. They developed this contest online through a musical chair game where people could play it through Facebook and win tickets for the same singer. Although this campaign was not launched in the U.S, the vitamin water sought to increase their sales in the U.K especially because the product is the early stages of product development. One of the tactics of this specific tool was targeting the people who assisted to the Olympics; more specifically they targeted consumers who enjoyed not only watching sports but also participating in the same ones or at least consumers who were relatively active. A second tactic was the idea of not only implementing these games on the street of London but also to take a step further and use Facebook as a way to reach the online audience. The online game was available in 20 countries and it was translated into 6 different languages. Finally, the last tactic of this sales promotion was the fact of partnering with Jessie J and making the video of the single Laserligh, that was the main song used in the game. With this they expanded their target audience, because by partnering with Jessie they were able to increase awareness among Jessies fans.

The second tool that vitamin water used in the past years is advertising. In 2009, vitamin water joined the twilight saga team to advertise their product along with the new movie coming to the theaters. The tagline used for this ad made emphasis on the idea that vitamin water was the drink that would satisfy your thirst. This Ad used a good tactic in identifying their target audience and connecting with consumers whose ages range from 15-34 years old. Another tactic was the fact of using the emotional appeal of slice to life. This appeal focuses on situating the brand on a desirable social context, and by placing and ad along with one of most popular movies in the last couple of years was the perfect idea. The vitamin water team knew that if they could get hooked the twilight fans they would be more popular and they would increase more awareness among current and new consumers.

7. Promotional Mix evaluation

Both the Sales promotion and the Advertising were good promotional methods used by Vitamin water. While the sales promotion in U. K seemed to have favorable results, the New Moon campaign here in the U.S needed more scheduling the ads. Also the Twilight campaign probably needed more advertising on traditional media since not everyone has access to the internet. On the other hand, by doing ads online it seemed to go more with the description of the intended audience being marketed with the twilight movie. Whereas the Olympics

campaign seemed or at least we believed that it worked better because they promoted the product itself, they gave free samples hoping that one of the new consumers will like the product. In addition to this, vitamin water should have put more emphasis on the Olympics campaign since it did not feature or stressed the benefits of drinking that particular water and especially if the product in U.K is in its early product stage. The promotional mix done by vitamin water should have stress more the Brand identity and brand image of the product, so that consumers became more familiar and were more likely to purchase Vitamin product instead of any other product in the bottle water market.

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and Glacau Vitaminwater Team up to Create Interactive Online Video Game. Business Wire, 14 June 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2012

Howard, Theresa. "Coke's Challenge: Keep VitaminWater Hip after Merger - USATODAY.com." Coke's Challenge: Keep VitaminWater Hip after Merger - USATODAY.com. USA Today, 25 May 2005. Web. 03 Dec. 2012.

Kerin, Roger. Marketing: The Core. 3rd ed. N.p.: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print. Mei1004. "Vitamin Water 1." Scribd. N.p., 28 July 2008. Web. 03 Dec. 2012. Robbins, Peter, and Alan Shepard. "Integrated Marketing Analysis." Business Library. N.p., 14 Dec. 2009. Web. 22

Nov. 2012. RTD Non-carbonated Beverages. N.p.: Information Resources, n.d. Mintel. Web. 22 Nov. Sasha. "Vitamin Water- Marketing Brand Discussion." Jewzicom. Jewzi, 19 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 Dec. 2012. Williams, Jennifer. Lecture 17: Advertising Objectives and Strategies. Retrieve from Principle of Strategic

Communications Lecture notes. Power Point. Zmuda, Natalie. "Vitaminwater Looks to Boost Trial, Awareness With Olympics Campaign."Update Your User

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Glaceau Vitamin Water Marketing Analysis

*Galindo, Viviana Mktg 3001 Section 04