Integrated Business Environment: SodaStream and its Ethical Values

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of SodaStream, a company renowned for its home beverage carbonation systems and environmental initiatives. The report delves into the critical role of ethical values in SodaStream's development, highlighting its commitment to reducing plastic waste through reusable bottles and sustainable production strategies, including partnerships for environmental conservation and impactful marketing campaigns. It also examines how SodaStream's public profile influences its social activism, detailing its evolution from its early days to its controversial relocation and subsequent resurgence with strong environmental campaigns, and its use of digital marketing strategies, including videos and celebrity endorsements, to promote its message. The report concludes with recommendations for future market expansion and the broadening of environmental sustainability programs, emphasizing the importance of water conservation and direct marketing strategies to further enhance the company's impact and brand reputation.

Running Head: INTEGRATED BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 1
Integrated Business Environment 1
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Table of Contents
Role of Ethical Values in Development of SodaStream:.............................................................2
Influence of Public Profile on Social Activism:..........................................................................3
Reference List:.........................................................................................................................6

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Introduction:
SodaStream, popularly known for their home beverage aeration system is an aerated drinks
company based in Israel. It is presently positioned as the number one sparkling water company in
the world and is also popular for their global environmental sustainability programs. This report
aims to analyse a case study- SodaStream International: Championong and Marketing Values,
and focus on two major aspects: the role of ethical values in the company’s development and the
influence of the company’s public profile influences its social activism.
Role of Ethical Values in Development of SodaStream:
SodaStream is known for its environmental conservation strategies, wherein the company
makes a vital effort in reducing plastic waste- one of the biggest environmental concerns of the
world right now. Till last year, plastic bottle consumption, worldwide grew up to 300 million
tons per year, with over 5 trillion pieces of waste plastic in our oceans. SodaStream through their
reusable plastic bottle saves each family up to 3000 disposable plastic bottles every year
(SodaStream 2019). The company’s reusable carbonating bottles leads to significant reduction in
consumption and waste due to regular bottles and cans purchased from stores. Additionally,
SodaStream’s production strategy helps reduce carbon footprint by up to 87% compared to its
competitors who produce bottled-sparkling water (Warren 2018).
The company also focuses on environmental conservation with its supply of fresh tap
water in several parts of the world, which is natural, economic and sustainable. In 2011, they
partnered with the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense for an initiative to improve tap water
quality and reduce waste generation. The ‘Replant our Planet’ campaign in 2012 was one of
SodaStream’s most popular marketing moves where, in collaboration with ‘Trees of the Future’,

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they planted thousands of trees in Brazil against purchases of their home beverage carbonation
system. Another impressive achievement was SodaStream Italy’s partnership with the
Municipality of Venice in 2012 to organize a cleanup initiative named ‘Join the Stream: fight the
bottle.’
The various advertisement and marketing campaigns of SodaStream, aimed at
environmental awareness and conservation has been held at high regard globally. In 2018, a
number of the brand’s competitors filed a lawsuit against the various campaigns of SodaStream
claiming that they humiliated plastic consumers. However, the judge ruled in favour of
SodaStream, stating that the messages conveyed in the campaigns were “essential and socially
relevant information” (SodaStream 2018).
Influence of Public Profile on Social Activism:
SodaStream, over the years has undergone many changes in ownership. In 1903 the
aerating machine was created by an Englishman Guy Hugh Gilbey. Originally sold in UK,
SodaStream’s products soon spread to Australia, New Zeland and Germany. In 1985, the brand
was owned by Cadbury Schweppes and in 1998, it was purchased by Israeli company Soda-Club,
which turned SodaStream into the world’s largest home carbonation systems supplier. In
November 2010 SodaStream International Ltd. Went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange,
becoming the eighth largest Israeli IPO. Within a year the company’s market value had risen to
$1.46 billion from $367 million. In August 2018, PepsiCo acquired the soda giant for $3.2
billion.
The company was subject to much controversy in 2015 owing to the illegal occupation by
its main production plant in West Bank, where they enjoyed cheap land and water, seized from

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local owners, along with tax benfits and a captive Palestinian labor force. This disrupted
Palestinian life, land and water and was met with strong protests, which included various actions,
from social media campaigns to asking Hollywood actress Scarlet Johanson to step down as
SodaStream’s global brand ambassador. In October 2015, the company was forced to relocate
from Ma’ale Adumi to a new facility in Lehavim, southern Israel (Warren, 2018). Since then,
SodaStream has made a comeback by venturing into the arena of social activism with strong
environmental campaigns and policies. The company strong drive against the bottled water
industry saw numerous campaign videos, many of which included popular television
personalities including characters from the worldwide popular show Game of Thrones.
Campaigns like ‘Shame or Glory’, ‘No Planet. No Christmas’, ‘Join the Revolution’ and ‘Don’t
be a homoschlepien’ got the sales of the brand’s starter kits go up by 37 percent in 2016 (Warren
2018).
Itai Bichler, the company’s global head of digital marketing said in an interview that,
“Brands should communicate what they stand for, not what is trending right now.” SodaStream
started off their digital marketing strategy with a video that presented the diversity of their
workforce by showing employees of different religions and national backgrounds working
together. However, SodaStream also maintains the importance of trending events by using them
to amplify their own message (Caffyn 2017). This approach can be well noted in the Game of
Thrones inspired ad video ‘Shame or Glory’ where an iconic scene from the show was recreated
to promote their cause of reducing plastic consumption and waste. This also attracted more
viewers as it was not just a company’s ad promoting their product but a clever use of a
worldwide phenomenon to showcase a global cause, which also promoted the role of the
advertised product towards that cause.

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SodaStream’s videos are not merely product advertisements; they also act as goodwill
promoters and uphold the company’s outlook towards environmental protection and ecological
solutions. Even by length, the videos weren’t like the conventional 30 second advertisements;
rather they were long videos that focused on sharing an idea having multiple purposes. The
company attributed their success to the creative designs of their digital campaigns, but at the
same made it clear to the public that their objective was not just to sell more home carbonation
systems, but to create a more aware and responsible populous who felt the seriousness of plastic
waste and understood the ecological benefits of using SodaStream products. This is how the
brand directed its social activism strategies according to the public profile and the history of the
company, along with the most urgent ecological need of the entire planet.
CEO Daniel Birnbaum has taken his company through some incredible progress in the
last few years, including having established SodaStream as the number one sparkling water
brand in the world. Given the current situation of his company, Birbaum must now take the
advice of focusing on expanding his market to more countries and broaden his environmental
sustainability program to areas like water conservation. The company should begin direct
marketing and retail in Asian countries such as India, China, Indonesia and Japan, as the Asia-
Pacific region have proven to be extremely beneficial for the global sparkling water market.
Being a leading beverage and water-based company, SodaStream should focus on environmental
factors like water conservation by adopting more sustainable and water-saving production
strategies.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded from this assignment that SodaStream’s ethical values are associated
with the sustainable environmental conservation activities of the company, and they help in

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building goodwill and brand value. Additionally it also functions as a part of the corporate social
responsibility of creating environmental awareness on the subject of plastic waste. The
company’s social activism also goes a long way in influencing the public outlook of the
company. The company’s social messages portrayed through strong video campaigns helped to
draw away the attention of previous mistakes they had made.

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Reference List:
Ben-Hur, S. (2018). Sodastream International: Championing - And Marketing - Values. [online]
IMD business school. Available at: https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/for-educators/case-
studies/sodastream-international-championing---and-marketing---values/ [Accessed 17 Aug.
2019]. (Ben-Hur 2018)
Caffyn, G. (2017). SodaStream on being an activist brand in 2017 - Digiday. [online] Digiday.
Available at: https://digiday.com/marketing/sodastream-activist-brand-2017/ [Accessed 17 Aug.
2019].
Carbon Trust, R. (2013). Take a Stand on Sustainability. [online] SodaStream. Available at:
https://corp.sodastream.com/sustainability/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2019].
SodaStream (2018). European Judge Rules In Favor Of SodaStream That Traditional Soda And
Water Brands Cannot Stop SodaStream's Ecological Campaigns. [online] Prnewswire.com.
Available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/european-judge-rules-in-favor-of-
sodastream-that-traditional-soda-and-water-brands-cannot-stop-sodastreams-ecological-
campaigns-300715162.html [Accessed 17 Aug. 2019].
SodaStream (2019). SodaStream Official: Sparkling Water Makers, Carbonating Gas Cylinders.
[online] SodaStream. Available at: https://sodastream.com/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2019].
Warren, S. (2018). SodaStream International Championing and Marketing Values 5 Cs of
Marketing. [online] Essay48. Available at: https://www.essay48.com/case/44073-SodaStream-
International-Championing---and-Marketing---Values-Five-Cs-Of-Marketing [Accessed 17 Aug.
2019].