When it comes to iconic brand, a lot of people think about Apple, Nike, Coca Cola, etc. While these types of brands have been frequently used and discussed, I would like to bring a new example to illustrate the idea of iconic branding and cultural branding.
In Hong Kong there is a famous brand named Watsons Water. As you can already tell from its name, it is a producer of water. It sells water of all type – from small portable bottles of water to large tanks of water you can find in an office water dispenser. Now you may wonder: how can a company which sells only water, something we can easily obtain from simply opening a tap, be one of the most famous and wealthy brand in Hong Kong? It all has to do with its branding.
The first thing Watsons Water has to do is to reconstruct our understanding about water. As soon as we have started to learn about basic physics, we learnt that the boiling point of liquid water is 100 degree Celsius – water in liquid form cannot go any higher than this temperature because they would have become steam (gas form of water) should they reach temperature higher than 100°C. Yet, Watsons Water overthrows this concept, and claims that their water has been heated up to 105°C, so as to make the most purified and distilled water. Nobody knows exactly how Watsons Water can heat water up to 105°C – the myth behind the water made by Watsons make itself stand out from other brands selling water, hence becoming the iconic brand in the industry of drinking water producers.
What is more, Watsons Water also constructs an image that the consumption of Watsons Water is indeed a lifestyle. Thirty years ago in Hong Kong, people everywhere used to prepare their own water with their own reusable water bottle. Yet, Watsons Water began its campaign and introduced different stylish water bottles. Bring your own water bottle then became something outdated, while buying Watsons Water from stores became something stylish and fashionable. By making the consumption of its water a fashionable lifestyle, Watsons Water succeeds in making their consumers believe they are buying something more than just a bottle of water, but a style of life.
Other than selling water, Watsons Water is also very active in different charity functions and major activities. One of the most famous events Watsons Water is fully responsible of has to be ‘a Drop of Life’. In ‘a Drop of Life’, participants take part in an event similar to walkathon, in which they have to finish walking the assigned route with a heavy bottle of water on their back so that they can raise money for a charity group working on water projects in cities under poverty. The appearance of Watsons Water in different charity activities help develop them as an iconic brand, or even a cultural brand. Furthermore, Watsons Water invites different celebrities to promote and participate in their activities. It is similar to Nike’s promotion method in which they find different sport celebrities to promote their products. Hence, similar effects of constructing an iconic brand can be achieved.
By presenting to the consumers its identity myth, and providing a sense of style to the consumers, Watsons Water successfully stands out from other water producers and become an iconic brand in Hong Kong. Hence, it largely echoes the points of view Holt’s study in 2004 about how an iconic brand or a cultural brand can be achieved.