Solving Big Problems Through Product with Jody Levy, WTRMLN WTR
Leading with vibrant red and green imagery and its cause-based mission, WTRMLN WTR has shown a keen understanding of how to grab eyes and keep them watching. Launched just three years ago, it’s parlayed that proficiency to go from fledgling startup to a nationally distributed cold-pressed juice brand that counts Beyonce as an investor.
WTRMLN WTR co-founder and creative director Jody Levy offered up the company’s story and marketing strategy as a case study last week at BevNET Live Winter 2016 in Santa Monica, outlining the ideas and methods that turned WTRMLN WTR into a standout and striking brand.
The Core Story
Coming from a background in abstract art, Levy and company co-founder Harlan Berger came up with the idea for WTRMLN WTR after learning there are 800 million pounds of unused watermelons in America every year. Berger proposed using these unwanted melons to make a juice. According to Levy, this set forward the company’s goal of developing models of food production that eliminate waste and make the most out of crops. Having a goal and mission, she said, were major drivers of the WTRMLN WTR brand.
With a commitment to the environment, Levy and Berger soon discovered watermelon juice also had health benefits, including vitamins and anti-inflammatories that help muscle growth post-workout. From there, the target demographic became clear.
“Once you develop a product, it’s really important to distill the core communication,” Levy said. “Cause there’s often times a lot of stories and a lot of people we’re talking to. And for us, our core communication is hydration. Everything’s hydration. How do we tell the world not why they would like to have WTRMLN WTR but why they need to have WTRMLN WTR? Every day, before and after workouts.”
Upon its launch, WTRMLN WTR released ads throughout their markets featuring bottles of the beverage with the word “hydration” emphasized, getting across that “core communication” to consumers.
The Brand Experience
Another key to getting a brand going: figure out how to connect people with your brand, Levy said. Making it “memorable and reciprocal” is one way to do that. For WTRMLN WTR, the company hired young models to dress in full watermelon-themed bodysuits. The models were named “Baby Dolls,” and their job was pretty straightforward:go out,meet and interact with people.
“Everything that we do is about is about clean hydration and fitness,” she said. “So we activate at yoga events, we do outdoor running clubs, we do indoor fitness. We do boxing events, we have cycling teams, we go to Sundance and do on-mountain activations. We’ve even thrown early morning dance parties as a fitness alternative. So we try to bring the essence of the brand into non-traditional places where our brand is activated.”
The Mantra
“If we were all as discerning as millennials, the world we live in would be a better place,” Levy said.
Pointing to company research, Levy said millennials largely want the brands they engage with to “give back” and help people and the planet. For WTRMLN WTR, this means carefully sourcing non-GMO melons and creating a strong relationship with their farmers. Transparency, she said, equals trust.
“It’s about how we do the voodoo we do,” Levy said. “This is something to think about as you’re telling your stories, especially as this new audience is growing and really wants to know where our food comes from, where our products come from, how they’re manufactured, who’s touching them. Transparency is everything.”
Designing the Visuals
In the field of the open market, WTRMLN WTR has the advantage of strong minimalist visuals and bright colors to help draw in customers to its pop-up shops and in-store displays. But to achieve that, Levy said, took a knowledge of the target audience and instinct.
“When developing any brand aesthetic it’s all about who are we talking to and what are we trying to do with it,” Levy said during a Q&A portion of the presentation. “So there was a goal for us from the beginning to make this brand accessible to anybody, not just in the natural channel, but to anybody. And we set out to make a brand that’s really accessible in that way – that’s poppy and bright and easy to understand.”
In order to “own the melon,” WTRMLN WTR based everything it could around the visuals of the melon. Levy, an artist and designer, also focused on “pop” influences, focusing on the bright, simple and visually communicative.
“It’s almost like actions speak louder than words, the aesthetic speaks louder than the words on it,” she said.
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