One of the fastest-growing bottled water companies in the UK is Waterbrands, which owns Harrogate Spa Water and Thirsty Planet charity water. Recent negative media coverage about the environmental impact of the bottled water industry, coupled with the bad weather of last summer, has led to static sales in the total category - but Waterbrands has bucked this trend, enjoying volume sales growth of 12 per cent year-on-year.

Managing Director Paul Martin (pictured above) attributes this success to the company's commitment to being environmentally-friendly and ethically sound - and he maintains that machine operators will reap the rewards by offering Waterbrands' products.

"As well as being a healthier choice than carbonates, our products have the added appeal of a strong ethical and environmental image," he said. "Consumers nowadays are very aware that the choices they make have an impact on the world around them, and the thought that they can do their bit for the planet simply by buying certain brands over others is very appealing. We've responded to this trend and the fact that we're outperforming the category by some distance shows that consumers are taking notice."

Thirsty Planet, which is available for vending machines in 500ml single bottles, has attracted significant brand loyalty since its launch a year ago, to the extent that it now boasts a 65 per cent volume share of the charity water sub-category (Nielsen Scantrack, 27/10/07). It makes a guaranteed, specified donation to the charity Pump Aid for every bottle sold, with the aim of bringing clean, safe water to 10 million people in Africa by 2015. A 500ml bottle raises 5p - enough to give someone in Africa clean water for five years - and the brand is currently raising enough money to fund a new water pump every six hours on average.

Both Thirsty Planet and Harrogate Spa Water have also boosted their environmental profile by repackaging the product in lighter PET bottles. The 500ml bottles have been reduced from 23g to 17.5g, cutting the brands' carbon footprint by reducing the materials used and slashing distribution costs. In addition, Waterbrands sources all its raw materials from within 60 miles of its bottling plant in Harrogate.

Paul added: "We're finding that our Thirsty Planet range is doing particularly well in school and university vending machines, because young people are particularly keen to make a difference to the world around them and they are therefore engaging with our message, which in turn creates brand loyalty. Other vending machine users are also choosing Thirsty Planet over other brands because of its ethical credentials, while the steps we have taken to improve the environmental impact of our Harrogate Spa Water brand, coupled with its well-established reputation for quality and its sophisticated packaging, ensures it also appeals to consumers with a conscience."

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---