Voss Positions Itself as an 'Approachable Luxury' Water

New York — Voss of Norway ASA, bottlers of Voss premium artesian water, gained popularity through the sale of its product in luxury hotels and upscale restaurants. But the brand has also taken off at retail over the past few years, and Voss felt the time was right to employ a new marketing strategy. “It was time to support the brand with the promotions one might do if you’re in the beverage business,” says Ken Gilbert, Voss chief marketing officer. “And if you’re in the beverage business, and you’re in retail, it’s kind of hard not to do a summer promotion.”The social media-based “Summer of Voss” campaign, which launched July 1 and ran six weeks, gave consumers who “Liked” the brand on Facebook or followed it on Twitter or Instagram entry into a sweepstakes that awarded a “luxury getaway.” “You can enter a sweepstakes and win something that puts you in ‘Voss world’; this is one of the things that makes it a pretty integrated promotion,” Gilbert says. “‘Voss world’ consists of the good life. It’s travel; it’s fashion; it’s art; it’s architecture; it’s great meals; it’s staying in great hotels.”The target market for the product is varied. The traditional hotel and restaurant audience spans all ages, from the young and well-heeled to older, more experienced world travelers. But the retail audience skews a bit younger. “We’re talking about typically a younger audience who at times want to treat themselves with a luxury product,” says Gilbert. “Luxury products are interesting in retail. While Voss has a super-premium position, it’s approachable luxury.”The Voss product appears in such retailers as Publix, Walgreens, Safeway’s Vons and Whole Foods. The summer promotion supported in-store activity that included floor displays, counter units, endcaps, posters and cooler clings, and was accompanied by a temporary price reduction.Gilbert believed the social activity would drive people to the store, but he expected the majority of the purchases would be the result of the display activity. Front and center in that effort was imagery of the water’s distinctive bottle. “Our bottle is probably one of the most recognizable nonalcoholic bottles out there,” Gilbert says of the sleek cylinder. “It’s iconic. There are people who, when I meet them, can tell me when they had their first Voss water. And there isn’t really any other water that can do that.”Voss will define the promotion’s success by sales, the number of displays that got up in-store, the number of new retail accounts the campaign opened, and the brand’s increase in social fans and followers.Tenthwave, New York, contributed digital strategy and execution for the campaign. The design was done in-house.Gilbert expects that the brand will repurpose the promotion in the coming months in Australia. “That’s the nice thing about digital: It gives you a lot of flexibility to do things around the world.”Voss planned several social promotions for its key global markets. The brand will execute a London-based fully integrated promotion this month as part of the London Restaurant Festival. It will also hold a Twitter-driven giveaway in the United Arab Emirates in partnership with Dubai-based social organization Lime & Tonic. “As our budget increases and we learn more about how effective digital is for Voss, I expect it to be our primary way of making things happen around here,” Gilbert says.

Voss Positions Itself as an 'Approachable Luxury' Water

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