Basic Facts
Let us revise some facts learned way back in school:
- 1. Water is indisputably the second most required resource after air for living beings. With about two-thirds of the planet covered with it and the human body being 70% composed of it, its importance can never be over-emphasized.
- 2. Its use pervades every aspect of human life, be it personal like consumption and washing or professional like agriculture or industry.
- 3. With fresh water, that in rivers, lakes and ponds, forming about 0.6% of total water on earth, potable water is indeed a scarce resource.
- 4. About two-thirds of the Indian population still lives in rural areas where groundwater is directly used for consumption without any sort of filtering or purification. The rainy season in particular plays havoc with rampant spread of water-borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis A, dysentery and many more.
Bisleri – 1969 to Now
Bisleri was bought by Parle in 1969 from an Italian entrepreneur Signor Felice Bisleri. With the concept of bottled mineral water largely non-existent in the Indian mindset, Bisleri had to put in a lot of efforts in bringing the product category into the mainstream. Since bottled water was colorless, tasteless and odorless, advertising it was not a simple nut to crack. The PVC packaging that Bisleri introduced in early-to-mid-eighties and the switch afterwards to PET bottles did the trick and gave the much-needed boost to the sales and the brand as a whole. As has been stated, Bisleri had a golden chance of capitalizing on building the market for bottled water as the quality of water available for drinking was extremely poor at that time. Strategic innovation in terms of packaging size, which increased the sales by 400%, and setting up of extensive distribution network put Bisleri bottles in peoples’ hands everywhere in the country.
Present
The efforts seem to have paid-off well now when one can find people saying ‘Bisleri’ to refer to bottled mineral water. Rarely does it happen when a brand becomes synonymous with the product category. As a result, Bisleri today boasts of a good 40% share in the Rs. 10-12 billion bottled mineral water market in India.
The Cause of the Effect
What led Bisleri to such astounding success? Why is its brand recall probably the fastest among brands in other product categories in India?
The answer is simple. Trust. It is the impeccable confidence that Bisleri has built over the years in the mind of the Indian consumer that gives it the edge, confidence that ensures that every drop of every bottle anywhere has the same level of purity, and that it is absolutely healthy to consume it.
But what is it that Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca Cola’s Kinley didn’t have or haven’t been able to achieve?
Again the answer is simple. Hope. Bisleri was the forbearer of ‘Hope’ of providing pure, potable water conveniently when people didn’t have any. It was the answer to the need of the masses.
Continuing Efforts
Bisleri has been doing everything a good corporate citizen must do. It runs a massive water replenishment drive, uses recyclable packaging and contributes in every which way possible to the good of the society (more on which will be described in my later posts)
Something to Ponder…
What lessons can be learned from the illustrious journey that Bisleri has had till now? Is the model that Bisleri followed replicable or even applicable to other industries or product categories?
