National Forest Spring Water was launched in 2000 and sales of the bottled water have grown steadily ever since. To continue the growth in sales Dave Smith, Managing Director of The National Forest Spring Water Company, knew he needed to penetrate the high class restaurant market.
Following research Dave found that the clean label design used on the bottled water may be the barrier to his increased sales. Dave found that the competition in the restaurant sector was more sophisticated in its use of branding on their bottled spring water. Quiet Storm, who have created all of the marketing and branding material since the companies launch, were approached for ideas on how to combat this competition.
A strategy was born which had a two pronged attack; the first was to engage the potential restaurant owners in the design process. Through asking them what they would want from a bottled water supplier and how did they want it to look? They were later presented with design concepts based upon the initial discussions from which they chose the design which they thought would sell best within their restaurant. The result was an almost unanimous selection of one of the designs and the label was produced and now features on the bottled spring water destined for restaurants.
The second part of the strategy was an added benefit: through undertaking the consultation with the restaurant owners, Dave was able to arrange appointments with key decision makers this enabling him to build relationships with several prospects who have since become customers.
“Quiet Storm’s ability to think out of the box is why I continue to use them, there enthusiasm and understanding for the brand has no doubt contributed towards its success.” Dave went on to say “The restaurants really felt like they owned the brand which has helped tremendously when selling it to them. The restaurant business is very competitive and we have had great success with the new label designs, our new customers have included bistros to Michelin Star restaurants and hotels”.
Rex Talbot of The Bay Tree Restaurant in Melbourne say’s “We have never been approached by a supplier to ask our opinion on what would help a product sell, which is amazing really. We are the ones who understand the restaurant business, especially what will sell in our restaurant; so to be approached in this way although unusual makes perfect sense! The new designed labels look great and the bottled spring water sales have been very healthy as a result.”