A recent consumer product survey asked me what I thought of the product concept shown here, with the following marketing text:
Natural spring water in the Aquapod bottle is the cool new kid on the block — Aquapod makes drinking water fun. Its unique bottle style is intriguing enough to get kids excited to drink water, a healthy choice over artificial and sugary drinks. Aquapod comes in a convenient 11oz size, so kids can sip, slurp and gulp up the same great taste of natural spring water wherever they are.
Good to know that flashy packaging and trendy text engages the younger crowd…not the actual content. Clearly, it’s time for ShakespearePod, or SchönbergPod, or ChagallPod, or some other ingenuous (no, I don’t mean ingenious) sleight-of-hand ”intriguing enough to get kids excited” to observe art. Or not.
Interestingly, there was a similar post over at Jessica Deuchen’s blog. http://www.jessicamusic.blogspot.com
Seems wrong to ‘trick’ someone into hearing classical music with snazzy marketing – but then, as with the water, maybe they’ll expect something more familiar but end up liking the music just fine…
If they could come up with a running garden hose that might be better. We always drank water from the garden hose as kids…but that always included spraying someone…
I wonder what Apple would think of this? This does stretch their Pod concept.
Worse for the kids who think that they can get a drink from their iPod. Or would that be the marketing opportunity for Apple, to merge the two?
Or, as they say in Texas: You can put lipstick on a pig, put it in a pretty dress and call her Arlene but when you kiss it… a pig is still a pig!
Don’t we do the same thing when we hire trendy architects to build us iconic venues? I know a couple of arts organizations that have been selling buildings for the last few years. Oh, and art, too.
I confess I’m a skeptic on reaching kids over 10ish through the arts, but not nearly as skeptical as today’s ad-savvy kids are about buying a new product. So in this case, the packaging solves only part of a problem. As they say, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Or in real terms, to have Mom bring home the hip-looking AquaPod is not enough. Kids need to have seen the cool ads and their friends drinking the water to be convinced. Then they need to believe they are a leader or early adopter. Which lasts only until the next cool thing comes along.
The packaging is only part of the plan. This is where arts marketers need to get really creative when reaching out to kids.
I would love to hear from anyone who has successfully reached out and won the LOYALTY of kids through the arts. I’m not being sarcastic…please share any cases that worked!
The comments noted above hit me like a brick. Although we haven’t had problems marketing our youth orchestra to students/families in the past doesn’t mean that attention to detail is unnecessary. We need to update our image sooner rather than later (when we’ve lost participants).
Karen’s comment above includes the classic horse-to-water bon mot, but Dorothy Parker’s brilliant twist — when challenged by one of the other Algonquin Groupies to use the word horticulture in a sentence, she immediately responded, “You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think!” — is even more apt. The “leading” can’t engage anyone, only the content can do that. So, however we adapt our wrappers to attract younger audiences, we’d better make damn sure that whatever we deliver is worth their effort.
It’s difficult to market orchestra concerts and formal events to a generation where the programs are scaled back or not offered in public schools. At least water is still available — either as a pod or out of the fountain.
This is marketing 101. Study after study has indicated effective packaging is crucial no matter what the demographic. Like it or not, arts organizations must wake-up to this reality or become obsolete.
This is marketing 101. Study after study has indicated effective packaging is crucial no matter what the demographic. Like it or not, arts organizations must wake-up to this reality or become obsolete.
This is marketing 101. Study after study has indicated effective packaging is crucial no matter what the demographic. Like it or not, arts organizations must wake-up to this reality or become obsolete.
Is it just me, or does the label look on first glance to say “Aquapoo”?
ok, i’m in college, and my friends and i are in love with aquapod. he’s our hero.
yes, it’s a he.
we gave him a cape.
he’s just so amaaazing.
so, their marketing ploy roped in more than just ten year olds.
geniuses!
brilliant!
wooooo…….