IT'S ALL GOOD - JAMAICA TOURIST ISSUE 10
With the distinctly Jamaican name WATA, the island’s #1 bottled water has taken the Jamaican market by storm. Bottled from two natural, artisan wells beneath the foothills of Spanish Town in the parish of St. Catherine, WATA is already naturally filtered through 200 feet of limestone by the time it arrives at the plant. Since its launch in 2002, the brand has focused on the general health benefits of drinking water and worked actively to align WATA with a healthy lifestyle. In only 6 years, WATA has gained nearly 60% of the country’s bottled water market share, a remarkable feat for such a young brand.
Says William Mahfood, Managing Director of the West Indies Synthetics Company (Wisynco) Group, the company behind the popular WATA brand; “Once at the plant, the water is taken through a 6 step purification process before a minimum amount of minerals and salts are put back into the water to create a good taste.”
Wisynco’s stringent water filtration and purification process has earned the company official endorsement, and its water plant is the island’s only to hold an international HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certification. Sand filtered, chlorinated, carbon filtered, put through a process of reverse osmosis, ultra purified, micro filtered, sterilized and hyper filtered, WATA bottled water indeed merits its tagline “nature’s purest and most perfected water” and with the addition of salt and minerals, indeed “It’s All Good!”
According to Mahfood, sales of bottled water have surpassed the sale of carbonated soft drinks in Jamaica and Wisynco is adding production capacity to meet the 40% growth in demand. Says the Managing Director; “The increase in water consumption is a worldwide phenomenon, Jamaica is just moving ahead of the curve.”
Customers have grown to love WATA which, like all of Wisynco’s products, conveys the message ‘proud to be Jamaican’ through its patois brand name. Mahfood declares that although he happened to be the one to Recently, the company joined come up with the name, the product’s tremendous forces with Ocean Spray to launch success is largely due to the efforts of Zachary a flavored water, mixing 4-5% Ocean Harding, Wisynco’s previous Director of Spray cranberry juice with WATA. Marketing who was headhunted by the JTB Says Mahfood; “Jamaica is the largest (Jamaica Tourist Board) as Deputy Director of per capita market for cranberry juice in Tourism last year. States Mahfood; “A young, the world. Therefore, it made sense to bright marketing professional, Harding was marry the island’s two strongest brands, the driving force behind the development WATA and Ocean Spray, into one beverage.” of the WATA brand.” Introduced 4 months ago, CRAN WATA with red and white cranberry flavors has been a huge success, a fact that Mahfood accredits to the strength of the two brands; “The new product has surpassed all our expectations, selling 5 – 6 times more than anticipated. It is a great motivator for us to continue expanding the range of flavors.”
Recognizing the value of proper rehydration while engaging in physical activities, WATA has used sports as a marketing platform to launch many innovative media solutions. In 2005, WATA introduced uniquely designed bottle labels for each of the Premier League’s 12 soccer teams.
Describes Mahfood; “Marketed as the ‘Official bottled water of the League’, we gave JA$5 to each team for every case of WATA sold. The initiative was hugely successful because it provided cash contributions to each of the teams as well as an additional, incentive-based cash reward to the two champion teams.”
In October 2008, Wisynco sponsored the initial staging of the WATA Rose Hall Triathlon and Wellness Festival, which seeks to position Jamaica as a ‘Sport Tourism Mecca’ and health and wellness hub. During the event, WATA showcased a ‘refresher’ booth featuring its varied sizes of bottled WATA, packaged to appeal to its many aficionados and provided refreshment at water stops along the triathlon path. Says Karen Rosen, Wisynco’s Marketing Manager; “We are enthused at this association and will actively continue to promote our sponsorship of this historic triathlon.”
Says Rosen: “WATA is a brand that holds promotion of healthy lifestyles as one of its core messages. The message we strive to communicate via appropriate media at all times is that: with 8 glasses of WATA a day, you’re bound to be taking the healthy way!”
Marketed in a range of sizes, WATA is available in the following formats: 330 ml LIKKLE WATA (little water) for children, the 600 ml PREMIER WATA (premier water) which comes in regular and sport, 1.5 liter and 3 liter bottles.
The WATA brand is identified with most major retailers in Jamaica and Wisynco’s client list includes customers such as the SuperClubs, Iberostar, Fiesta, Island Grill Restaurants, Margaritaville, KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King, Domino’s and Air Jamaica.
Says William Mahfood, Managing Director of the West Indies Synthetics Company (Wisynco) Group, the company behind the popular WATA brand; “Once at the plant, the water is taken through a 6 step purification process before a minimum amount of minerals and salts are put back into the water to create a good taste.”
Wisynco’s stringent water filtration and purification process has earned the company official endorsement, and its water plant is the island’s only to hold an international HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certification. Sand filtered, chlorinated, carbon filtered, put through a process of reverse osmosis, ultra purified, micro filtered, sterilized and hyper filtered, WATA bottled water indeed merits its tagline “nature’s purest and most perfected water” and with the addition of salt and minerals, indeed “It’s All Good!”
According to Mahfood, sales of bottled water have surpassed the sale of carbonated soft drinks in Jamaica and Wisynco is adding production capacity to meet the 40% growth in demand. Says the Managing Director; “The increase in water consumption is a worldwide phenomenon, Jamaica is just moving ahead of the curve.”
Customers have grown to love WATA which, like all of Wisynco’s products, conveys the message ‘proud to be Jamaican’ through its patois brand name. Mahfood declares that although he happened to be the one to Recently, the company joined come up with the name, the product’s tremendous forces with Ocean Spray to launch success is largely due to the efforts of Zachary a flavored water, mixing 4-5% Ocean Harding, Wisynco’s previous Director of Spray cranberry juice with WATA. Marketing who was headhunted by the JTB Says Mahfood; “Jamaica is the largest (Jamaica Tourist Board) as Deputy Director of per capita market for cranberry juice in Tourism last year. States Mahfood; “A young, the world. Therefore, it made sense to bright marketing professional, Harding was marry the island’s two strongest brands, the driving force behind the development WATA and Ocean Spray, into one beverage.” of the WATA brand.” Introduced 4 months ago, CRAN WATA with red and white cranberry flavors has been a huge success, a fact that Mahfood accredits to the strength of the two brands; “The new product has surpassed all our expectations, selling 5 – 6 times more than anticipated. It is a great motivator for us to continue expanding the range of flavors.”
Recognizing the value of proper rehydration while engaging in physical activities, WATA has used sports as a marketing platform to launch many innovative media solutions. In 2005, WATA introduced uniquely designed bottle labels for each of the Premier League’s 12 soccer teams.
Describes Mahfood; “Marketed as the ‘Official bottled water of the League’, we gave JA$5 to each team for every case of WATA sold. The initiative was hugely successful because it provided cash contributions to each of the teams as well as an additional, incentive-based cash reward to the two champion teams.”
In October 2008, Wisynco sponsored the initial staging of the WATA Rose Hall Triathlon and Wellness Festival, which seeks to position Jamaica as a ‘Sport Tourism Mecca’ and health and wellness hub. During the event, WATA showcased a ‘refresher’ booth featuring its varied sizes of bottled WATA, packaged to appeal to its many aficionados and provided refreshment at water stops along the triathlon path. Says Karen Rosen, Wisynco’s Marketing Manager; “We are enthused at this association and will actively continue to promote our sponsorship of this historic triathlon.”
Says Rosen: “WATA is a brand that holds promotion of healthy lifestyles as one of its core messages. The message we strive to communicate via appropriate media at all times is that: with 8 glasses of WATA a day, you’re bound to be taking the healthy way!”
Marketed in a range of sizes, WATA is available in the following formats: 330 ml LIKKLE WATA (little water) for children, the 600 ml PREMIER WATA (premier water) which comes in regular and sport, 1.5 liter and 3 liter bottles.
The WATA brand is identified with most major retailers in Jamaica and Wisynco’s client list includes customers such as the SuperClubs, Iberostar, Fiesta, Island Grill Restaurants, Margaritaville, KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King, Domino’s and Air Jamaica.
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