Long known for offering consumers a luxury experience, artesian Norwegian water brand VOSS is now looking to play a bigger role in shoppers’ daily routines with the extension of its VOSS+ line of functional beverages. The launch accompanies a national marketing campaign that seeks to position the brand as an everyday product.
VOSS+ initially launched in January 2020 with a flavor containing Aquamin, a trademark blend of 74 mineral and electrolytes sourced from Iceland. Since its launch, the drink has become the fourth best-selling SKU in the company’s portfolio, said SVP of marketing Rachel Chambers, prompting an expansion this month with Vitamin D and Collagen varieties. Each drink is available in 850 mL rPET bottles. The Aquamin and Vitamin D products will retail for $2.69-$3.39 per bottle and Collagen is priced at $5.99-$6.99 per bottle.
According to Chambers, the brand’s expansion in the enhanced water category was in part driven by the pandemic, which accelerated pre-existing health and wellness trends and generated growth in the functional beverage space. The new flavors — Vitamin D (made with citrus essence) and Collagen (made with berry essence) — are designed to both expand VOSS’ consumer base and strengthen its appeal to loyalists, Chambers said, with Collagen in particular giving the brand a play in the beauty space where it will seek to expand its presence in specialty stores.
The line also marks a change for the brand known for its slim glass bottles of artesian water aimed at high-end hospitality accounts; VOSS+ is its first product packaged in 100% rPET plastic, and are produced in California with water sourced locally in the United States. Chambers said the decision to source locally was made as part of the company’s sustainability initiative to help reduce its carbon footprint and noted that rPET-packaged products will go on sale in the European Union this summer.
VOSS is not the only premium bottled water innovating into the enhanced water set. The expansion of VOSS+ comes three months after The Coca-Cola Company introduced its Smartwater+ line, with ginseng, dandelion and ashwagandha SKUs. Functional plays have also taken off in the sparkling water category: earlier this month, PepsiCo debuted a new sparkling brand, Soulboost, which features products containing panax ginseng and L-theanine.
“I think folks are always looking for ways to improve their lifestyle and do it in a vehicle that they’re probably consuming already,” Chambers said. “We’re seeing consumers wanting to have more healthy options in their lifestyle, and you’re seeing it across categories. The supplements market in itself, beverages, functional foods, etc. It’s an important consumer trend right now.”
The launch will be accompanied by a national marketing campaign, including television ads which began airing last week. Chambers said the company is aiming to reposition VOSS as an “everyday luxury” breaking down its image as an exclusive product only consumed at “fancy hotels” and special occasions. Acknowledging that VOSS is primarily known for its cylindrical and occasionally intimidating bottle, the campaign is dubbed “What’s On the Inside?” and intends to highlight the quality of the water. The ads will promote the entire VOSS portfolio, including still, sparkling, flavored and the new functional entries.
“It’s not just this ultimate special occasion brand, but a brand you can incorporate into your daily routine,” she said.
The brand evolution arrives under the leadership of CEO Glenn Hartman, who joined the company in February 2020. Hartman joined VOSS from market research firm IRI where he was a principal of strategic solutions. Prior to that, he served as the CEO of olive oil brand Deoleo and was SVP of channel business development at Starbucks from 2014 to 2017.
Hartman’s appointment as CEO followed a period of executive turnover for VOSS. In 2017, longtime chief executive Jack Belsito left to join First Beverage Group. The company was then briefly led by its former COO Joe Bayern, who later jumped over to cannabis company INDUS Holding Co. in 2019.
VOSS is now seeing a reinvigoration of its broader leadership team. Chambers herself joined the brand in March; she most recently served as VP of marketing, USA and Canada for confection company Perfetti Van Melle but also worked with Handel at Starbucks as a senior director focused on the coffee giant’s CPG business.
In April, VOSS hired former AriZona VP of operations Saul Cruz as its SVP of global supply chain and operations. Cruz has over 25 years of experience in manufacturing operations and logistics and previously spent 14 years as director of operations at Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
This month, Chris Cuevas was promoted to SVP of sales. Joining the company in 2019 as director of sales for the West Coast, Cuevas had served as the company’s VP of national accounts, retail West and Canada since October. He’s previously held sales positions at Red Bull, Gas Monkey Energy, Boxed Water and Neuro Brands.
Though he is not involved in the VOSS+ launch, Chambers confirmed that the company continues to work with actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who joined the brand as an investor and strategic advisor in 2019. Johnson has a growing presence in the beverage industry: he is the co-founder of plant-based energy drink brand ZOA, which is exclusively distributed by Molson Coors Beverage Company, and of premium tequila maker Teremana.
With the new leadership team in place and the national marketing campaign underway, Chambers said VOSS is now executing on a distribution expansion strategy. She noted the company has a large runway in the food service channel, where it is serviced through a partnership with PepsiCo, and noted the space is quickly reinvigorating as the pandemic winds down in the U.S.
VOSS+ will be available nationwide in Walmart and CVS stores, as well as on Amazon, while the brand overall has expanded its presence in Kroger and Safeway/Albertsons stores, Chambers said.
“We see the [growth in] enhanced waters in the food, drug and mass areas,” she said. “We also are doing a lot of targeting in our on-premise business in hotel spas and alternative channels, like some of the beauty stores and places like that. So there’s a really nice story to tell with the VOSS+ items that really fit in some different places and we’re having a lot of fun exploring different targeting and learning about the consumer element as we tell the collagen story.”