JKR

“Everyone’s got a mountain…”

Britvic wanted a serious new contender in the water category from its uninspiringly named ‘borehole two’ in Huddersfield. Consumers viewed water as a heavily commoditised product in a market crowded with the same old names year in year out.

Buck the establishment

We had to build consumer demand quickly – to stand out from the norm. Our strategy was to create a name and design that would differ from the generic fare of mountains and landscapes.

To stand out we have to stand for something

Deciding to be a provenance-free brand liberated us to make the water about itself, not its source. First we came up with the name. ‘Drench’ is an evocative and powerful word. The oversized design makes it a symbol rather than just a piece of type. We evoked ‘drenching’ by cascading water down the bottle’s neck.

Juicy drench maximised the abstract approach, turning flavour codes into outsized coloured dots, as opposed to the photographs of fruit that are the category convention. This delivered great standout on shelf and a distinctive, contemporary feel.


The design established drench as a brand and a badge, not a place in the Pennines:

‘drench’s branding turns the category on its head. We’re not talking about what mountain we are from, we’re big and we’re bold and that is reflected in the design.  All of this really helped us from a communications perspective, to go on and do what we did.’

Within 12 weeks of launch, drench water had 70% weighted distribution in grocers and the 750ml SKU was outselling Buxton and Highland Spring. Notably, it was outselling Vittel by 50%.

The brand saw a 66% rise in sales year-on-year, despite the plain water market declining by 5.8%.

Consumer research carried out in July 2008 found that:

The strong branding and distinctive labelling of drench is highly memorable and achieves a high impact on the shelf among its competitors. It stands out wherever it is stocked.

The strong focus on the name ensures that the hydration and thirst-quenching cues are strong.

Estimated ROI of 10:1 in the first 2 years.

It quickly became apparent that the market results were, in Britvic's words, “phenomenal”…

- 5% share of impulse purchasing from only 35% distribution.

- Higher rate of sale than Oasis and Ribena light variants.

- Within 41 weeks of launch juicy drench had added incremental £5.9m to impulse juice drinks.

Juicy drench opened doors into impulse for drench water, meaning it was a win-win brand extension.

All this added up to juicy drench being projected as the biggest soft drinks launch in impulse in the last
three years.