Harmonie Water Case Study: Analyzing Global Branding and Marketing

This case study delves into Harmonie Water's efforts to establish itself as a global brand in the bottled water industry. It examines the company's 'Project Unify' and 'Project Aqua' initiatives, which aimed to understand cultural differences and consumer perceptions of purity and revitalization across various countries. The analysis considers factors relevant to Harmonie Water's positioning, including consumption trends, competition from major global brands, and the importance of the premium customer segment. The study further explores the standardization and customization strategies employed by Harmonie Water, along with its advertising and communication approaches. The analysis also suggests a recommended media mix, including billboards, websites, television, direct mail, and email, to enhance the company's global reach and brand awareness.

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Answer to Question 1
Reasons for considering Harmonie Water as a global brand
Harmonie Water is an organization which provides bottled water in the home country
and many other countries in the world. The Marketing Director of the organization had
planned to revive the brand name of Harmonie Water in order to standardise the brand image
of the company in effective manner. This plan was made by Antoine Comeau in the year
2016. The main aim behind the revival based initiatives of the company are thereby based on
the ways by which the company is able to overcome various cultural differences which can
take place in various countries of its operations. The company had planned to organise some
events which were based on the formation of an image of the brand in the global bottled
water industry (Hbr.org 2018).
Providing insights from the two projects that have been conducted by Harmonie Water
Harmonie is a major part of the global industry of bottled water. Many different
factors are able to affect the operations of the company in the industry which include, the
consumption trends and different segments of customers. Project Unify was mainly based on
the analysis that was made by the company related to conflicts which can take place in
different countries. The managers were engaged in the globalisation based activities that were
conducted by the company. Most important factor that was considered in case of
revitalization of the brand was based on increasing purity levels of products that are offered
to the customers. Project Aqua on the other hand was implemented after the successful
completion of Project Aqua (Hbr.org 2018).
The company wanted to know the meanings of refined and revitalizing in different
countries. This analysis played an important part to help the company to decide ways by

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
which certain products can be promoted in some areas. The responses which were provided
by the customers in different groups have been based on the ways by which the company is
able to differentiate between the strong and weak indicators of purity. Responses based on
different types of waters which were provided by the company were quite different.
The premium group of consumers replied that the products that are provided to
consumers can be used during some special occasions. The results which have been gained
from analysis of the two projects have proved that Harmonie Water is a global brand and is
able to serve the customers who belong to different parts of the world (Hbr.org 2018). The
company thereby needs to analyse the customers from all over the world in order to fulfil
their specific needs in an effective manner.
Answer to Question 2
Relevant factors to be considered for the positioning of Harmonie Water
The consumption based trends of customers plays an important role in the
sales of products that are offered by Bottled water brands. The amount global
consumption of bottled water in many years has been an important part of the
discussion. The levels of consumption of bottled water based products have
also changed in the recent years. The consumers who were a part of the
developed nations have consumed more of bottled water as compared those in
other countries (Jun et al. 2017).
The dominating trends of local brands in different countries have been
higher in comparison to the global brands. The major global brands of water
like, Coca Cola company, PepsiCo and Icelandic Water Holdings have proved
to become some of the important organizations which have provided tough
competition to Harmonie Water (Strebinger 2014).

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
The premium segment of customers will also play an important role in the
successful operations of Harmonie Water. The premium waters have been
distinguished from the normal segment with the help of analysis of the mineral
levels. The premium segment thereby needs to analysed by the management of
Harmonie Water in an effective manner. High prices have been implemented
by the organizations in order to create an image of products by many
organizations (Schlegelmilch 2016).
Standardisation and customisation used by Harmonie Water
Customisation of the products need to be done in such a manner which can fulfil the
needs of different types of customers. Harmonie Water needs to create different service levels
in order to provide the products which belong to normal and premium segments. Harmonie
Water needs to develop the segments in such a manner which can help in proper
differentiation of services. The high price tag based strategy that has been implemented by
many multinational organizations can be used in an effective manner by Harmonie Water.
High prices are able to affect the behaviour of premium customers (Punyatoya 2014).
Standardisation can be implemented Harmonie Water in order to provide a certain level of
products and services to customers.
Advertising and communication strategies implemented by Harmonie Water
Harmonie Water has implemented several strategies which are based on products that
are offered by the company. The company however needs to use the results of the Projects
that have been undertaken in order to develop appropriate strategies for specific areas.

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
First advertising strategy - The country managers of the company thereby need to
provide their personal opinions in order to create appropriate advertisements for the
consumers who belong to a specific area.
Second advertising strategy - Harmonie Water can increase the awareness of its
brand among consumers of different countries with the help of digital marketing based
activities.
Third advertising strategy - The premium segments need to be targeted by the
company in a different manner as compared to the customers who belong to the normal
segments (Westjohn et al. 2016).
Harmonie thereby needs to provide high levels of importance to the ways by which
consumers from all over the world can be attracted towards the brand. The advertising based
activities are thereby important for the company in order to operate a global brand in many
countries.
Communication strategy - The communication strategy which can be used by the
company in order to promote the products can be named as the visual communication
technique. This will play an important role in the proper engagement of customers with the
organizational operations.
Recommended media mix for Harmonie Water - The different types of media that
can be used by Harmonie in order to operate in the industry include, billboards, websites,
television, direct mail and email (Gao et al. 2018).

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
References
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Hbr.org. (2018). Harmonie Water: Refreshing the World Naturally. [online] Available at:
https://hbr.org/product/harmonie-water-refreshing-the-world-naturally/917527-PDF-ENG
[Accessed 9 Aug. 2018].
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on consumer responses to global positioning in advertising. International Journal of
Advertising, 36(2), pp.272-292.
Punyatoya, P., 2014. Evaluation of branding strategies for global versus local brand: the role
of concept consistency. International Journal of Business Excellence, 7(1), pp.112-128.
Schlegelmilch, B.B., 2016. Global Branding and Communication. In Global Marketing
Strategy (pp. 153-176). Springer, Cham.
Strebinger, A., 2014. Rethinking brand architecture: a study on industry, company-and
product-level drivers of branding strategy. European Journal of Marketing, 48(9/10),
pp.1782-1804.
Westjohn, S.A., Arnold, M.J., Magnusson, P. and Reynolds, K., 2016. The influence of
regulatory focus on global consumption orientation and preference for global versus local
consumer culture positioning. Journal of International Marketing, 24(2), pp.22-39.