Aquasana Marketing Internship Keystone Project Outline

894080155257500 Keystone Project Summer Marketing Internship Rebecca Holden Executive Summary: According to a study published online on June 6, 2011 by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, minorities are more likely to purchase bottled water based on beliefs such as bottled water is safer, cleaner, better tasting, or more convenient. I feel this is an excellent opportunity for Aquasana to engage and get more involved in the community while expanding our audience by educating them on the truths about tap vs. bottled water and how it is better and greener to filter at home, given that most bottled water is filtered tap water. Background: ,[object Object]

Opportunity Being Solved: Developing more of a diverse audience and educate them and our current target audience that bottled water is not the only solution to getting healthy and great tasting water.

Why the Opportunity is Important to Solve: Able to reach out to the community and build a good rapport, which gives opportunity to create a word of mouth and build curiosity that will lead to an increase interest in Aquasana and new customers.

Is Opportunity Still Unsolved? Yes, no future plans in place to target minorities. There is a lack of diversity on the website and no marketing material that centercenter00appeals to the concerns of this group. Spanish marketing material is also needed to reach out to this group.

Why Opportunity is Difficult to Solve: Minority audience is stigmatically low-income; however, clean and healthy water is an important issue to these families and it’s shown in the study. It’s so important that the group surveyed reported they sacrificed other things just for bottled water. We have to be able to not only market to this audience on how our product is the best value that allows them to open their wallets back up to what they’ve been sacrificing, but also to educate them on why filtered tap water is just as safe, if not safer, than bottled water, given that in recent news most bottled water is filtered tap water. -The Study: ,[object Object]

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Urban/suburban emergency department.

Participants: Parents of children treated between September 2009 and March 2010. Main Outcome Measures: The respondents completed a questionnaire in English or Spanish, describing their use of bottled water and tap water for their children and rating their agreement with a series of belief statements about bottled water and tap water. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between bottled water use and beliefs and demographic characteristics with odds ratios (ORs). Results: A total of 632 surveys were completed (35% white, 33% African American, and 32% Latino respondents). African American and Latino parents were more likely to give their children mostly bottled water; minority children were exclusively given bottled water 3 times more often than non-Latino white children (24% vs. 8%, P < .01). In logistic regression analysis, the following factors were independently associated with mostly bottled water use: belief that bottled water is safer (OR, 2.4), cleaner (OR, 2.0), better tasting (OR, 2.8), or more convenient (OR, 1.7). After other factors were adjusted for, race/ethnicity, household income, and prior residence outside the United States were not associated with bottled water use. Conclusions: Minority parents are more likely to exclusively give bottled water to their children. Disparities in bottled water use are driven largely by differences in beliefs and perceptions about water. Interventions to reduce bottled water use among minority families should be based on knowledge of the factors that are related to water use in these communities. Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children's Research Institute, Milwaukee. Source: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/archpediatrics.2011.83v1 -Bottle Water vs. Tap: Even when bottled waters are covered by FDA's specific bottled water standards, those rules are weaker in many ways than EPA rules that apply to big city tap water. For instance, comparing those EPA regulations (for water systems which serve the centercenter00majority of the U.S. population) with FDA's bottled water rules: City tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria (bacteria that are indications of possible contamination by fecal matter). FDA bottled water rules include no such prohibition (a certain amount of any type of coliform bacteria is allowed in bottled water). City tap water from surface water must be filtered and disinfected (or the water system must adopt well-defined protective measures for the source water it uses, such as control of potentially polluting activities that may affect the stream involved). In contrast, there is no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water -- the only source-water protection, filtration, or disinfection provisions for bottled water are completely delegated to state discretion, and many states have adopted no such meaningful programs. Bottled water plants must test for coliform bacteria just once a week; big-city tap water must be tested 100 or more times a month. Repeated high levels of bacteria (i.e., quot;
heterotrophic-plate-countquot;
bacteria) in tap water combined with a lack of disinfectant can trigger a violation for cities -- but not for water bottlers. Most cities using surface water have had to test for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common water pathogens that can cause diarrhea and other intestinal problems (or more serious problems in vulnerable people), yet bottled water companies don't have to do this. City tap water must meet standards for certain important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach from plastic, including plastic bottles); some in the industry persuaded FDA to exempt bottled water from regulations regarding these chemicals. Any violation of tap-water standards is grounds for enforcement -- but bottled water in violation of standards can still be sold if it is labeled as quot;
containing excessive chemicalsquot;
or quot;
excessive bacteriaquot;
(unless FDA finds it quot;
adulterated,quot;
a term not specifically defined). Cities generally must test at least once a quarter for many chemical contaminants. Water bottlers generally must test only annually. Cities must have their water tested by government-certified labs; such certified testing is not required for bottlers. Tap water test results and notices of violations must be reported to state or federal officials. There is no mandatory reporting for water bottlers. City water system operators must be certified and trained to ensure that they know how to safely treat and deliver water -- not so for bottlers. City water systems must issue annual quot;
right-to-knowquot;
reports telling consumers what is in their water; as detailed in this report, bottlers successfully killed such a requirement for bottled water. Source: http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp ,[object Object]

When it comes to bottled water, FDA largely takes a hands-off approach. As stated on the FDA website, "bottled water plants generally are assigned low priority for inspection".

Current FDA regulation of microbiological contaminants in bottled water do not even specify which microorganisms should be tested or what levels of source water contamination will make it unfit for bottling.

Bottlers are obligated to list on the label the type of bottled water and, for bottled water sourced from a public water system; the label must disclose that fact. However, this requirement can be circumvented by using water that has been "purified", "deionized" or "distilled", bottlers are free from legal obligation to disclose the tap water origin of their product.Source: http://www.ewg.org/BottledWater/Bottled-Water-Quality-Investigation/Is-FDA-Able-to-Ensure-Bottled-Water-Quality -Public Opinion of the Study: ,[object Object],Source: http://drday.blackamericaweb.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1342:whats-safer-to-drink-bottled-water-or-tap&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50 ,[object Object],Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20070043-10391704.html#comments ,[object Object]

“The vast majority of tap water in America is safe. People need to drink it. The solution to the problem in your second line of evidence is education. I’m not sure why people aren’t getting the message (or do they understand tap water is safe, but chose to purchase bottled water anyway?). 99% of poorer families do not need to buy bottled water.”Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-h-gleick/another-cost-of-bottled-w_b_873974.html ,[object Object]

Aquasana Marketing Internship Keystone Project Outline

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Aquasana Marketing Internship Keystone Project Outline