Michael Preis left us with a lot of food for thought. I still can’t get the graph out of my head showing the hockey stick growth of hard seltzer in the past four years. Even as someone who came of drinking age during the surge of White Claw, it baffles me. The only person I know who drinks seltzer is my grandma. The other graph that stuck with me was that “hard ____” graph showing how the rise of hard seltzer has inspired other beverages to go “hard”, like coffee. In this post, I want to focus on hard water. Since Thursday’s class, I’ve felt a torturous dissonance over the existence of hard water, so I did a little research to reconcile. And honestly, I don’t think hard water is a total sham anymore.
To start, it’s rather difficult to find much information on hard water. There seem to be two main competitors: Hard2O and Pura Still. Pura Still markets itself as “spiked still water” and appears to be the earliest market entrant. Newer and arguably sexier, is Hard2O, which calls itself “water with some spirit”. Catchy, right? Hard2O appears to be the White Claw wanna-be of still water. Vodka-based water with fruit flavors, it is like White Claw in that it is 5% ABV. It only has a “hint of vodka” flavor among the tropical fruit flavor options like dragonfruit and mango. We talked about how one competitive advantage hard seltzer has over beer is its health benefits. The competitive advantage of Hard2O is that it's healthy, too. In fact, its 40 calories beats White Claw’s 100 calories for the same ABV. And for consumers who don’t like carbonation— either for the sensation of bubbles or for the post-drink bloat— hard water could very well serve a true want for drinkers. The lower calorie count and lack of carbonation I think could really solve a pain point for drinkers who might be hesitant to drink hard seltzer. So I wonder, will hard water steal market share from hard seltzer or is it targeting a different type of drinker?
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| Hard2O Landing Page |
Hard2O has rolled out in Wisconsin and is preparing for a 2020 national campaign. Like White Claw, it seems to market itself to college-aged adults and young graduates. And it doesn’t discriminate on gender (perhaps responsible for some of White Claw’s success). Their founder says, “It’s perfect for boating, the beach, tailgates, golf, barbecues, after working out.” They’re targeting Vegas pools, golf courses in Arizona, and anywhere where there are people who like working out and want something refreshing that is low calorie. And a big target: day drinkers. Drinking out of a water bottle (yup, that’s how they’re packaged, just like water but with a bright colored label) is supposed to appeal to the day-drinking, active consumer. Also like White Claw is, it seems like it would be easy to binge drink given the low calorie count and minimal alcohol flavor.
Hard2O is also aggressively taking on beer and hard seltzer who they see as direct competitors. The founders claim to dislike carbonated drinks and therefore wanted an alternative to hard seltzer. In fact, their website’s 4th landing page hits you with the phrase, “Seltzers are so last year”. Pretty direct, eh? So while they ride the White Claw wave of success (see what I did there? White Claw is a wave), they’re also directly taking it on.
What do you think about hard water? Is there a market for this or will hard seltzer reign supreme?
Sources
Milwaukee Distillery Creates New Alcohol Category Of Hard Water
Really weird videos of people tasting Pura Still for the first time that I’m too embarrassed to link because they were WEIRD.
This is really interesting Sela. I had not read much about hard water, but I am definitely hesitant here... Water should be refreshing and alcohol free!
ReplyDeleteHard water is an interesting concept - though I would point to common bar beverages as the counter point to its potential success. Hard seltzer, in my mind, was not surprising at all given the popularity of vodka soda as well as the La Croix craze that swept the nation just a few years ago. That being said, there doesn't seem to be a similar comparable to "hard water" that seems common place on the market today - which could be interpreted as evidence against the potential market or an opportunity just waiting to be found.
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