In a category filled with indistinguishable brands, LIFEWTR chose to introduce a more relevant water brand to the category, which led us to uncover a higher need in the category: 57% of bottled water drinkers believe that inspiration is essential to living a fulfilled life.
This was the basis for LIFEWTR: a new water brand that transforms every bottle into a canvas for emerging artists. Our goal was to bring life and color into the category and back it up with our purpose: that art is as essential to life as water.
That's why we decided to support emerging artists by putting their art on every bottle of LIFEWTR. This became the first step of many that would further promote each bottle art Series and the artists who created each artwork.
We knew that if we could create an emotional connection at scale with the Culturally Curious, we could disrupt the category and win against established brands.
In its first year, LIFEWTR launched 12 unique bottle designs across 4 bottle Series. Each series was rooted in a unique cultural anchor from the art world: Series 1 Public Art, Series 2 - Women in Art, Series 3 - Emerging Fashion Designers, and Series 4 - Art in Education.
Instead of playing to category norms and competing on functional product attributes, LIFEWTR tapped into a desire shared by our target, the "Culturally Curious": 57% believed that inspiration is "essential to living a fulfilled life."
We learned that they seek out inspiration everyday and that it can come from anywhere: walking to work, trying new experiences and especially scrolling through social media. And often manifests itself in art. This desire for inspiration and art also motivates them to passionately support the talent and creativity of others.
We knew that 95% of our Culturally Curious target are social media users and half check their social media accounts 3 or more times a day.
Given our desire for LIFEWTR to upend the bottled water category with purpose and make an authentic connection with our audience, we believed the power of our brand lived at the intersection of inspiration, water and social media.
