Big Brand, Little Idea

Recently I was talking to a friend about the problem of Sobe’s LifeWater and it occurred me that the fundamental problem of the product is the brand.

It’s not clear why someone should spend their money on the beverage with so many other brands out there with stronger propositions, most notably VitaminWater.

Sobe seems to have taken the position of imitator not innovator. They have fallen into the trap of using the same naming structure of their top competitor, using a similar bottling system (prior to the above bottle redesign) and using similar flavor names.

Piggybacking on what Al Ries said in AdAge, Sobe LifeWater has no story.  Thus far Sobe has resorted to using advertising to solve for a business problem. They have invested time, resources and money to create experiences without telling a compelling brand story.

It seems to me that Sobe needs to create a new category and class for enhanced water. Today the market for enhanced performance beverages is over saturated (no pun intended), indicating that an opportunity exist to create a lifestyle beverage for a new kind of customer with unmet needs.

To win, Sobe will need to reposition itself to create better realities for customers by creating new usage occasions just as Red Bull did by becoming the choice mixer for late night partiers and Starbucks did for office dwellers as a morning pick-me-up.  

Sobe’s challenge will be to concede internally that they need a new brand idea to lead all future endeavours.

(George 3.0)