How Wahter is looking to make water bottles an advertising medium

A product can’t be consumed without packaging, right? But, are we utilising packaging to its fullest? 

Well, packaging has a hidden power in terms of advertising. Many brands have leveraged that in the past like Amazon Ads, when it partnered with Asian Paints to launch on-box advertising, and Bisleri, when it launched special edition water bottles in partnership with various movies. 

Wahter, a brand from the Shiva Group portfolio, is taking a step ahead with packaging as an advertising medium. The brand is enabling 80% of the branding space of the water bottles to advertisers. 

For consumers, a 250 ml water bottle will be available at Re 1, and 500 ml for Rs 2. For the advertisers, the rates range from Rs 9 per bottle to Rs 20 per bottle depending on the water quantity, distribution channel, minimum order quantity (MOQ), and duration and location of stores. The MOQ ranges from 1 lakh to 5 lakh. 

We spoke to the co-founders Amitt Nenwani and Kashiish A Nenwani.

Amitt Nenwani says, “We’re giving a majority of the space to advertisers, currently the bottles in the market have small labellings as their bottles don’t have that ability to hold the labels. Our bottles are designed in a way that they can hold labels. Also, when bottles are frozen in a cold atmosphere, they will shrink but the packaging will still be as effective due to the quality.”

According to him, the brand recall value on the ad water bottle is much higher than any other medium. 

“While other mediums offer ads just for a few seconds, A water bottle has much higher recall value as it will be with the customers till the time water is left in the bottle,” he highlights.  

“Water is an essential need that every age group across the county needs, whereas other mediums have a challenge to get an audience with them,” Kashiish A mentions.

The brand can tap into unique advertising opportunities in restricted areas, such as Rajpat and India Gate, typically inaccessible to other mediums such as OOH, leveraging the distinct nature of its product.

Wahter is currently looking to start operations with Delhi-NCR from January 2024. The bottled water will be available in paan shops, hypermarkets, mom-and-pop stores, branded carts, and strollers. 

“In the market, the water in the bottle is cheaper, but the branding and packaging are high-priced. The biggest challenge is the ROI that the retailer gets from other brands. We’re looking to give the same margins that other brands are offering to distributors,” he states.    

The water bottle will be available free of cost on flights. Without mentioning the name, Nenwani informs that they will soon be closing an agreement with one of the two low-fare airlines in India. The brand is also in talks with OYO and a Dubai-based real estate company.

The brand aims to establish pan-India availability by the end of 2024. 

Features for advertisers

To advertise on the bottles, advertisers can download an application, upload their brand design, and integrate it with the label’s template. After this, they can have a look at a virtual finished product with a 360-degree perspective. 

The brand also launched a tech-based platform, through which advertisers can choose their target market based on PIN codes, and serviceable areas like corporate offices, carts, strollers, and airlines. 

“All the water bottles have a geotag, which are accessible to advertisers on the dashboard. So, they can see where the bottles are placed currently. With this, marketers can easily target the TG they want”, she highlights. 

Using the geo-tagging feature on the dashboard, advertisers can see order history, status of live orders, and the exact location of bottles on various distribution channels through a handy online map. 

The brand can also share advertisers’ QR codes and offers on the packaging of the bottles.  

The carts of the brands are GPS-enabled, so the advertisers can decide accordingly which group to target. 

The app access is available to consumers too, so they can find the nearest cart from their current location.  

“By next month, we will have around 100 carts in the capital, and aim to open a total of 1000 carts in Delhi NCR,” he states. 

The creative aspect will be taken from advertisers, while printing, labelling, and distribution will be handled by the brand.

Considering the environmental impact of discarded bottles, the brand has decided to use 100% recyclable bottles.