After 14 years in business, premium sparkling water maker Found is no stranger to reinventing itself. Now, after the pandemic forced the international company to overhaul its strategy, the brand is relaunching again with new funding, a new headquarters and a new name.
Having suspended operations last year, the company quietly relaunched exclusively online this summer as Found Bubbly, debuting redesigned packaging for its line of naturally carbonated mineral waters.
Created in 2007 by CEO Onur Kece and business partner Mark De Luca, Found was originally based in Australia and operated in the U.S. through a subsidiary. However, speaking to BevNET this week, Kece said that the pandemic served as a complete reset button for the company which has now relocated its headquarters to the U.S. where it is acting as a new corporate entity.
“I’ve always believed that during times of uncertainty, there’s great opportunity,” Kece said. “So when everyone was trying to save themselves and work out what’s happening next, we made this shift, which we had been toying with for quite awhile, to go direct-to-consumer.”
Found has gone through multiple iterations over the years, initially launching in Australia as a pomegranate juice. However, according to Kece, the young brand struggled to establish itself in an expensive category and was challenged by fluctuating costs of goods that worsened during the 2008 financial crisis. But in 2011, during a supply sourcing trip, Kece and De Luca learned about a naturally carbonated mineral water spring in Turkey and relaunched the next year as a premium sparkling water company.
Kece said that at its height, Found’s business was about 80% on-premise, including fast casual restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels and corporate offices, with limited retail partnerships. Primarily available on the East Coast, the brand also had a small presence in China, Korea and the United Arab Emirates, and was working on expanding across the country in the U.S. when the pandemic hit last year.
Moving forward as Found Bubbly, the liquid itself is unchanged and the drinks are available in plain, Cucumber Minty, Lemony, Elderflowery, and Watermelony flavors. The products are sold on the brand’s website for $35 per 12-pack of 11.2 oz. bottles for a one-time purchase or $27 per 12-pack at a monthly subscription rate. According to Kece, the flask-shaped bottles retain a similar look and feel to the brand’s older packaging, but have been modified to better accommodate shipping, achieving just a 1% breakage rate.
The updated branding, Kece added, is intended to better communicate the product itself — making “Bubbly” the hero word — and shift the focus from being a lifestyle brand and towards health and wellness. While Found Bubbly is still positioned as a premium offering with a high-end look and feel, the messaging now focuses on the water’s benefits like electrolytes and calcium and educating consumers about naturally carbonated springs.
“Before, Found was very much about lifestyle as a brand,” Kece said. “It kind of looked like an Italian Riviera classic, that was the sort of imagery we were going for. And this [new branding] is us talking about the feeling you get when you drink this product; we’ve shifted as a brand to talking more about the importance of the product and where it comes from.”
Found Bubbly also announced this month that it has closed a round of seed funding for its new American incorporation. Though the size of the round was not disclosed, Kece said it was 17% oversubscribed and was led by entrepreneur Eloise Monaghan, founder of Australian lingerie company Honey Birdette, and New York-based investment firm Jackalope Ventures.
While no board seats were offered during the round, Kece said Monaghan is active in advising the brand and is helping to develop an omnichannel strategy. The investment comes on the heels of Honey Birdette’s $333 million acquisition by Playboy parent company PLBY Group Inc. in June. As well, Jackalope is backed by Vanessa Wittman, former CFO of online beauty company Glossier, he added.
“This group of investors are really important to us, because there’s a lot to learn and there’s been a lot of disruption in the direct-to-consumer space that we want to sell in,” he said. “But they’re also our target audience. Our customers are predominantly women, 27 to 55 year old, who are working professionals.”
Following its soft launch, Found Bubbly now has about 1,200 active subscription customers and is driving trial by offering free sample packs online. Kece said the brand now intends to begin growing its awareness through brand partnership opportunities, including flavor, packaging and design collaborations. As well, Kece and his partners in Found Bubbly run a creative agency called The Refreshment Club, which is handling much of the marketing for the brand.
“We’re creating experiences where people can discover and learn about our brand, and then ideally make it their water in their fridge,” he said. “We want to be the water in their fridge that they open up and drink all the time. That’s what our goal is.”