Harmonie Water Case Study: Global Brand Strategy and Challenges

This case study analyzes Harmonie Water, a leading bottled water brand, examining its global branding and marketing strategies. The assignment delves into Harmonie's market research, including Projects Unify and Aqua, which aimed to identify key consumer perceptions and refine the brand's image. The case study explores the challenges of standardization versus customization in advertising and brand image, particularly in the context of cultural differences, as highlighted by the China market manager. The analysis covers Harmonie's positioning, competitor analysis, and industry dynamics, including factors like health consciousness and water pollution. It also provides recommendations for improving Harmonie's market position through coordinated communication, investment in R&D, and branding efforts. The case study emphasizes the importance of adapting to a competitive and fragmented market, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, where Harmonie faces significant competition from local vendors. The analysis provides a detailed understanding of the bottled water industry and its challenges.

Running head: HARMONIE WATER
HARMONIE WATER

HARMONIE WATER 1
Table of Contents
Answer 1:..............................................................................................................................................2
Focus on a Single Product:................................................................................................................2
Solid Reputation:...............................................................................................................................2
Findings from Projects Unify and Aqua:...........................................................................................2
Answer 2:..............................................................................................................................................3
Standardisation or Customisation:.....................................................................................................3
Positioning Analysis:.........................................................................................................................4
References.............................................................................................................................................6

HARMONIE WATER 2
Answer 1:
To find out whether Harmonie Water Association Inc. is a Global Water or not, the
characteristics of the brand are required to be analyzed for the same purpose:
Focus on a Single Product:
The company is only engaged with the production and selling of premium bottled water. It
has not entered into any new market or industry. It is the main characteristic of a global brand
to focus on a single product (Alam, 2016).
Solid Reputation:
A global bard is required to have a solid reputation and image at international level. Form the
given sales figure in the case study, it is clear that Harmonie Water has created a strong brand
image in most of the developed and developing countries.
Worldwide reach:
The company is advertising in most of the countries of the world with the same objective of
understanding the quality of bottled water. Although the ways of advertisements are different
the brand name of the company is the same in all countries (Merino, et al., 2015).
CSR:
Corporate Social Responsibility of the company shows that the sources and processes
adopted by the company in its operations are safe and ethical form the point of view of
customer welfare. The company also provides annual reports for this purpose which is the
main important feature of a global brand.
On the basis of the above characteristics, it is clear that Harmonie Water Association Inc. can
be considered as a Global Brand (Melo & Galan, 2011).
Findings from Projects Unify and Aqua:
Project unify was conducted with a view of imaging the organization as the world's best-
bottled water providing brand. The team recommended that aspirational attributes should be
emphasized to highlight the refined product of the bottled water. Similarly, purity has been
found as the best attribute for revitalizing the brand meaning.
Project Aqua was conducted to test the results of project Unify in more than one countries.
Results from the revitalizing group showed that consumers liked the taste of water but

HARMONIE WATER 3
disliked the other attributes like quality check and origins of the Harmonie water. On the
other hand, consumers include in the refined group recommended the Harmonie water for the
special occasions but not for their day to day consumption (Quelch & Teopaco, 2017).
Answer 2:
The Harmonie Water Association Inc. can be positioned as a Global Brand on the basis of its
current market strategies, competitor’s analysis, industry dynamics and the problems faced by
the company in the present scenario.
Standardisation or Customisation:
The company uses a standardized product strategy at the international level which includes
providing products and services at a standardized level to meet the high expectations of the
customers. For this purpose, the samples of every day are tested to with the certain
parameters to assure the quality of water to be packed. By following this strategy, the
company has to face the issue of consumer trust and high prices. The company uses high
biodegradable plastic for the making of a water bottle which automatically increases the cost
of the packed water bottle in comparison to its competitors like Nestle, Coca-Cola, and
PepsiCo. Along with this, customer awareness is still the main issue in front of the company
as most of the under developing countries are not aware of advantages of using bottled water
(Hu, et al., 2011).
The company is making its unique identity in the current fluctuating dynamics of the bottled
water industry. Some factors like health consciousness, demand for hygienic water, lack of
well-developed water infrastructure and continuously increasing water pollution in natural
water resources can act as fuel to for the growth of sales volume and revenue of the industry.
Increase in the hospitality services, clubs, and tourism activity also increase the consumption
of bottled water. Along with this, the main players in the market are continuously launching
new products in different tastes with different benefits which are also helpful in attracting the
customers (Kanat, 2017).
The international Bottled water market industry mainly portrays a highly competitive and
fragmented vendor landscape. The main reason behind this is the regular entrance of
uncountable players in the market. These new players are in the form of local vendors or the
well-known brands working in more than one industries. There are low entry barriers in this
industry and this is the main reason for such countless vendors. Harmonie water has the main
competition in the Asia Pacific, the largest area in consuming the bottled water due to two

HARMONIE WATER 4
major economies India and China. There are several local vendors which are giving
competition to the Harmonie Water. The second position of the brand shows that it is
functioning well in present highly competitive market (LaMoreaux & Tanner, 2012).
Positioning Analysis:
The position of the company in the present industry can be understood with the help of below
mentioned perceptual map:
Rich in taste
Low Nutrition Value High Nutrition
Value
Not good in taste
The main strategies that are suggested to be used by the organization to improve this position
of the company can be summarized as follows:
Coordinated Communication Strategy:
The company is required to develop an awareness program related to the science of water
management and environmental stewardship. Along with this clarification of regulations of
WHO and other regulatory departments should be taken with the help of an open and
coordinated communication system. An increase in government sponsorship of conferences
and workshops on water management issues should also be adopted by the organization.
Invest in R&D:
The organization is recommended to invest in amount Research and development activities to
get updated about the new entrants and latest changes in the target market. It would also help
the company in making investment systematically to get a high return on investment.
Branding:
Harmonie
Water
Nestle
Pepsico
Local
brands

HARMONIE WATER 5
The company should invest in online branding and advertisement techniques that are easily
accessible by the worldwide consumers and most of the consumers get aware about the
products of the company. For this purpose, the company can also tie up with the well-known
brand of tourism and hospitality sectors and airline companies (Wong & Lau, 2011).
The company can perform in a better way by applying the above-recommended strategies as
the industry of bottled water is highly competitive and the company would have to make
some positive changes in order to sustain in this environment.

HARMONIE WATER 6
References
Alam, M. R., 2016. BRAND BUILDING CHALLENGES IN GLOBAL MARKET: AN
OVERVIEW. International Journal of Management and Applied Science, 5(5), pp. 146-150.
Hu, Z., Morton, L. W. & Mahler, R. L., 2011. Bottled Water: United States Consumers and
Their Perceptions of Water Quality. International Journal of Environmental Research of
Public Health, Volume 8, pp. 565-578.
Kanat, G., 2017. Risk Perception and Bottled Drinking Water Consumption in Istanbul City.
Global NEST Journal, 19(3), pp. 521-532.
LaMoreaux, P. E. & Tanner, J. T., 2012. Springs and Bottled Waters of the World: Ancient
History, Source, Occurrence, Quality, and Use. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.
Melo, T. & Galan, J. I., 2011. Effects of corporate social responsibility on brand value.
Journal of Brand Management, 18(6), pp. 1-15.
Merino, M. H., Mazzon, J. A. & Isabella, G., 2015. A model of susceptibility to global
consumer culture. Review of Business Management, 17(57), pp. 1212-1227.
Quelch, J. A. & Teopaco, J. E., 2017. Harmonie Water: Refreshing the World Naturally.
Harvard Business School, pp. 917-527.
Wong, C. & Lau, N. T. P., 2011. The Roles of Branding for a Brand Entering Overseas
Markets. [Online]
Available at: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:429824/FULLTEXT01
[Accessed 18 July 2018].