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*The company in the spotlight of water innovation issue 47 is Another Bloody Water, an Australian firm that has produced an eponymous bottled water that isn’t afraid to divide opinion with a brand name trading on antipathy towards the number of different products available to consumers. Love it or hate it, one can’t help but admire the cheeky creativity behind the product and its stylish packaging. *

Co-founder Michael Derepas told water innovation: “The brand has experienced strong growth and has received an amazing customer reaction to date. I can’t release volume figures, but the brand is developing way above all our expectations.”

Along with business partners Didi Lo and Jay Dillon, Michael Derepas is responsible for manufacturing the bottled water brand and has poured all his lifesavings into the project. The product has been around for 18 months, soft launched in a few selected retail outlets but officially launched in March 2007.

The premium spring water is available in a 60cl bottle at select East Coast cafés, bars, health stores and convenience stores in Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland.

“Our strategy has very much been to be seen in the right places such as small organic food stores, cool cafés and the smaller independent supermarkets in the right suburbs. We don’t want to stocked everywhere. We want the people who do find us to be able to enjoy us privately or tell a friend of their discovery,” added Derepas.

According to the company, the product targets savvy and cynical consumers. They obtain the basic hydration and convenience that bottled water provides without additional promises and hype. And beyond the bravado, the brand owners believe that its product is extremely palatable.

Approval from BFA

Sourced in the Kiewa Valley of Victoria’s Alpine High Country, the bottled water contains one of the lowest sodium content of any major brand in Australia and has approval from the <1> (BFA), Australia’s largest representative organic body.

Didi Lo of Another Bloody Water observed: “The word ‘organic’ isn’t splattered all over the label. To be able to be certified as organic, it has to be grown or fed from the earth to start with. So there’s a different program for products that don’t fit into this, like water and salt, but still use nonchemical processes that are in harmony with the environment.”

Australia remains the focus for the brand in 2008, but the company is starting to investigate international markets due to consumers response overseas. “Once we can get our business model right and ensure we don’t emit too much carbon along the way, we would love to play in the UK,” Derepas explained. * Playing with the big boys*

“Our company isn’t backed by a large player. We are a small and passionate enterprise. We’ve scrimped and saved to develop the brand which is now competing alongside brands with much bigger marketing budgets,” he added.

“Besides PR, events sponsorship and attendance at trade shows, most of our promotional efforts are simply related to what’s in the packaging and what’s on the label. You know you are doing something right when you have people emailing you just to thank you for entertaining them and promising they will buy it wherever they can find it.”

A growing fan base, a pristine water source, a good looking bottle, a group of passionate business owners and a brand name which lampoons the growing range of waters jostling for space on supermarket shelves and trades on consumer scepticism. This tongue-in-cheek brand from Down Under could be set for greater things in the future.

To read more articles from past issues, go to our <2> where individual copies of our magazines are available for purchase.

<1>: http://www.bfa.com.au <2>: http://dairy.foodbev.com/issues/issueDetail.aspx?contentId=17