Sales of SoBe V Water are stagnant at 2 million units per year due to a lack of brand investment. Retailers are pressuring the company to boost sales through a national marketing campaign. The document proposes increasing current customer consumption rather than trying to attract new customers, as changing behavior is difficult. It suggests targeting the 20% of customers who drink SoBe 20 times per year through a campaign centered around a "your natural well-being" message delivered through TV ads, outdoor print, and promotions at yoga/pilates studios to drive repeat purchases.

1. 25/03/14
SoBe V Water
How Communications Can Help (APSOTW)

2. The Issue
Sales are stagnant at 2 million units per year. These sales are mostly
thanks to distribution, there has been little or no investment in the
brand in the UK. Retailers are now putting pressure on the company
to invest in a national campaign in order to boost sales. If this
investment is not made in the brand and sales do not increase there
is a risk of being delisted from the retailers altogether.
In human terms, we need more people to start buying SoBe V Water
and the people who are already buying it to consume more of it.

3. The Insight
The insight here is a rather simple one: it will be easier, given budget
restraints, to increase current customer’s consumption of SoBe than
to convince non-users to begin purchasing SoBe. Convincing non-
users to purchase SoBe represents a change in behaviour, a difficult
thing to achieve. Convincing current customers to consume more
SoBe represents a situational change, a much easier prospect.
At the risk of sounding cliche, let me remind you of the classic ‘Got
Milk’ campaign. I can’t make the case for aiming to change situational
rather than behavioural problems any clearer than that.

4. Got Milk Case Study
The California Milk Processor Board needed to reverse plunging industry
sales fast, or its members could literally have lost the farm
Its "Got Milk?" marketing campaign not only helped turn around milk sales
but also changed the face of consumer marketing forever.
This impressive turn around was achieved by analysing the current
situation of milk sales and the clever insight that it would be more prudent
to increase the amount of milk current consumers bought, than to convince
non-consumers to purchase milk (this is our situational vs. behavioural
which I discussed previously)
It was probably one of the most effective campaigns ever produced

5. The Idea
The idea is equally as fundamental as the insight: we increase our
current customers consumption of SoBe by investing in creating a
brand which is in line with our customers values. We must create a
brand image that fits perfectly into our customers lifestyle.
Remember the 20/80 rule. Potentially, 80% of all SoBe may be
consumed by just 20% of our customers. This is the 20% of SoBe
customers that drink it 20 times a year. The same 20% that are noted
as ‘being interested in Yoga and Pilates’. This is our core audience,
and 80% of them are women.

6. Justification for The Idea
Based on the fact that two million units are sold per year and that 20%
of our customers buy twenty SoBes per year and the remaining 80%
buy five SoBes per year, it works out that our core audience of 20%
contains 50,000 people. If we can convince this core audience to
consume two or three SoBes per week, we increase our yearly sales
from two million units to somewhere between six to eight million units
per year.

7. Implementation
Our very specific core audience should allow us plenty of room to
implement a multifaceted campaign in addition to a well aimed
national. I recommend the following three steps be taken.
Please note these steps are not comprehensive plans, but rather
guidelines to be followed by creative, media and other persons
involved with the execution of the project.

8. Number One
A TVC aimed at health conscious women. These women attend one,
maybe two, yoga or pilates classes each week. They try to go for a
walk or a run whenever their schedule permits. The TVC must
communicate how SoBe V Water fits in with this ‘semi-active’ life style
and how even when they don’t have time to be active, SoBe will keep
them healthy. We present SoBe as a brand with your natural well
being at it’s core.
All other communications must fall in line with this ‘your natural well
being’ message if we hope to establish a strong brand image. It will
be up to creative to develop a powerful advertising idea based around
this ‘your natural well being’ philosophy.

9. Number Two
An OOH print campaign aimed at the same core audience, and
perpetuating our ‘your natural well being’ message. Where as the
TVC should act almost as an introduction to the brand and it’s values,
the OOH print should serve almost as a reminder, or a gentle prompt,
to actually purchase the product.
The timing and placement of both the TVC and the OOH print are
very important. It is vital that they are in the right place at the right
time in order for maximum exposure to our core audience. It is equally
vital that the OOH prompt to buy is easily and quickly actionable.
Media will be responsible for ensuring these guidelines are adhered
to.

10. Number Three
We engage with our core audience where both they and the brand live:
yoga & pilates classes. The idea is simple but effective. Our main
objective is to increase the number of times our core audience
consumes SoBe V Water, an easy way to this is through a promotion.
The promotion we run entails collecting a set number of labels from
bottles of SoBe V Water, say five. These labels are then redeemed with
a local yoga or pilates instructor in exchange for a free lesson.
The beauty here is that in exchange for participating in the program, in
addition to renumeration for the lessons, the instructors are given free
SoBe V Water to distribute to their classes for a limited amount of time.
This will really reinforce the brand image for our core audience of SoBe
fitting in with their life style, while simultaneously encouraging repeat
purchases.