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SUBJECT
BRAND MANAGEMENT

Submitted By:
Amrita Arora
Nishu Soni
Nupur

Case Synopsis

Shubham
Sharma

Marketing Brand Aava: Not as Simple as Water

Case Summary in the form of Answers to Case Questions

Q1. What branding strategies could be used from the brand strategy matrix to
help Mehta increase retail sales in the premium segment? Focus both on the
existing B2B segment and the B2C foray of Aava.
Answer. Branding strategies that could be used to help Mehta increase retail sales in the
premium segment are as follows:

Purpose: Every brand makes a promise. But in a marketplace in which consumer

confidence is low and budgetary vigilance is high, its not just making a promise that
separates one brand from another, but having a defining purpose. So, in the B2B segment
the purpose is clearly defined for Aava for providing Natural Mineral Water (NMW) but
in B2C foray customers are less knowledge or they may not able to make a
differentiation between the packaged water and mineral water.

Consistency: The key to consistency is to avoid talking about things that dont relate to
or enhance of the brand. In an effort to give brand a platform to stand on, there is a need
to be sure that all of the messaging is cohesive. Ultimately, consistency contributes to
brand recognition, which fuels customer loyalty. As one of the success factor of the brand

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is its tie ups with institution such as with hotels and Airlines Company. So to maintain
this success consistency is required.

Emotions: People have a basic psychological need to feel closely connected to others,
and that caring, affectionate bonds from close relationships are a major part of human
behavior. So there is need to develop emotional connectivity towards the brand for the
consumers. As, for Aava to expand into B2C market, the company must focus on getting
emotionally attach with the customers by providing knowledge about the benefits of
mineral water and the disadvantages of the packaged water.

Flexibility: The Company must remain flexible to stay relevant, flexibility enables to
make adjustments that build interest and distinguish approach from that of the
competition. The company must adopt the new tactics in order to sustain. It is not
necessary that the old tactics will remain working in the future also. So from time to time
there is a need of flexibility in the business.

Competitive Awareness: By taking the competition as a challenge to improve your own

strategy and create greater value in your overall brand helps in achieving the objectives.
Being aware about the competitors strategy will also help in increasing retail sales in
premium segment.

Q2. What would be differences between its current B2B practices and its
foray into the B2C sector for Aava in terms of the 4Ps of marketing?
Answer.

Aava has various products for each buyer for example 20 litres bottle for business buyers
like institutions, household or offices and smaller pack sizes such as cup-cap bottle 1 and
1.5 litres, sports bottle 750 ml are designed with unique pull-push cap to suit the needs of
fitness-conscious individuals, Aava personal 500 ml, for hotels and restaurants and Aava
mini 300 ml/200 ml, for the airplane. They have a high variety of bottles to suit the need

of each buyer.
They offer a huge discount to their B2B customers and have tie up with various
institutions. But in case of B2C customers they want to target the upper section of the
society, priced the product at US $.33 in Gujarat and Maharashtra and US$0.44 in
Mumbai. Because purchasing power of Mumbai customers are more. Price of the bottled
water:
Gold bottled water - Rs.20
Cup-cap- Rs.15
Sports- Rs.15

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Mini bottled water - Rs.10

Family pack - 20 litre,- Rs.60, 10 liter & - Rs.40, 5 liter Jars - Rs.25
For promotion to B2B audience, they developed prospects, one of which was an animated
educational video for its clients which is discussing about the product source and the
rigorous packaging process through which the Aava water went through before delivering
to customers. For B2C customers they developed a campaign which is mainly targeting
premium customer and want to develop an image of a company which provides a quality
and healthy water. The company tries to develop a bottle in a way that bottle itself
communicate to customers. The company adopted a two-tier strategy for positioning its
product. The B2B clients were mostly targeted with the superior quality at affordable
prices strategy. In case of B2C, they were using packaging as the most important factor
of positioning. The innovative packaging and different pack sizes meant Aava had
something for every consumer. Their present tag line is true to you true to nature.

Aava has a institutional tie-ups with key hotels, restaurants and airlines companies for
distribution. These different institutional tie-ups helped Aava in building a brand name for itself
and the premium pricing strategy. In case of B2B no reseller is required. Due to which
communication was more direct.

Q3. Based on the consumer survey findings, how should Aava proceed in the
marketing communication strategy? What should be the media choice?
Answer. The findings of the consumer survey were:

A majority of the consumers were not aware of the differences between chemically
treated packaged water (which was being marketed by major beverage players) and
packaged NMW such as Aava (More than 80%). On further probing, it was found that
they perceived both to be the same. Given a clue on the health benefits of NMW, 59
percent of the respondents were found willing to pay more for a bottle of NMW than
PDW.
Aava was not featuring in the top-of-the-mind recall for most of the respondents and also
fared poorly in terms of aided recall. It had only around 2 percent brand awareness.
Bisleri was the most recalled and most used brand of PDW. Also high on awareness were
Kinley and Aquafina. Rail Neer, the brand of PDW from the Indian Railways was
surprisingly in fourth position both in terms of recall and usage.
The two NMW brands with high awareness were Himalayan and Qua. But, in terms of
use, Qua was used more than Himalayan, even if people were aware of Himalayan more.

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Based on these findings, following should be the plan for marketing Aavas communication
strategy:

Aava required a strong and well planned brand communication strategy to educate people
about the differences between packaged drinking water (PDW) and NMW. This could
create the right positioning for Aava and also increase retail sales.
This could be followed by informative advertising to create awareness and improve the
brands visibility and perception at premium locations.
Instead following traditional methods of mass advertising via television, radio and
newspapers, Aava should do focused group advertising at premium locations like
colleges and areas which are known to be office hubs like in NCR Gurgaon. This would
cost less than the traditional methods.
Also, Aava can create awareness about its product and brand using social media
advertising via various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. It could make social
groups and pages regarding the benefits of NMW. This media of advertising is cost
effective and will also help to reach the target masses.
Both location based advertising and social media advertising should be done
simultaneously to make a place in the top of mind of the customers.

Q4. Assume you are Varsha. Evaluate the three alternatives faced by Aava
and select the one you think best for Mehta. Justify your answer.
Answer. Three alternatives faced by Aava are:

The company would only concentrate on B2B market: In this alternative, they already
have a brand image as superior quality at affordable price and enjoy goodwill. As only
10% profit comes from the B2C market, they could think to stop targeting the B2C
market because in B2C market they have a huge competition and very low percentage of

the population is aware about the Aava as a mineral water.

The company could continue with its current strategy with a major focus on the B2B and
lesser emphasis on the B2C segment. As B2B market is limited and in case of B2B
buyers have bargaining power which leads to lesser profit. But in B2B customers are
fixed and there is limited expenditure in advertising and promotion. So, continue with
present strategy would help Aava in expanding in various parts of country but with

limited expenditure in campaign.

It could relaunch Aava in the B2C market with a fresh marketing strategy. To relaunch
Aava, the company has to devise a proper plan for communicating the brand to its B2C

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customers. They have to create a right positioning strategy and educated consumers
about Aava and benefits of drinking mineral water over bottled water.
As demand for mineral water is increasing in Indian market and there is growth in demand for
bottled water in India. As Varsha, I would suggest that relaunching Aava in B2C market is a
better strategy.