Vitaminwater Flavorcreator
Vitaminwater was first introduced to Americans in 2000 as an alternative to soda and positioned as a drink that both hydrates consumers while providing essential nutrients they are likely missing. Over the past nine years the company has exploded in popularity quickly becoming one of the largest beverage brands in America. In 2007, The Coca-Cola Company purchased Vitaminwater for $4.1 billion dollars. Today, the brand is bigger than ever and endorsed by some of the largest stars in entertainment including Steve Nash, 50 Cent, Shaq, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Just recently Vitaminwater launched a unique fan contest that utilizes the power of Facebook. The contest was announced by Steve Nash and 50 Cent in a humorous internet commercial.
The contest is two phases and it all takes place within a Facebook app titled the flavorcreator. The first phase of the contest, which concluded on October 5, 2009, allowed users the chance to vote on the next flavor of Vitaminwater to be created. The second phase allows Facebook users the opportunity to create the next label for Vitaminwater and win a $5,000 grand prize, but it is the unique ways this contest utilizes social media that makes it unique.
The app does not allow Facebook users to mix flavors together or even select which flavors should be used; rather it allows you to monitor social media buzz on the top 10 flavors Vitaminwater placed in contention. The app follows social gossip on Twitter, Flickr, Google news and Foodgawker and every time a flavor is tweeted or tagged, it adds to its ranking. After flavors are ranked, users are allowed to select a combination that is actually capable of being produced by Vitaminwater. Phase one concluded with black cherry–lime as the winning flavor. Finally, through an analysis of a survey placed within the app the new flavor will also feature vitamins from a-to-zinc plus the addition of caffeine.
The second phase allows Facebook users the chance to create the new Vitaminwater label and name, plus users will have to type up one of classic flavor descriptions that Vitaminwater is famous for featuring on the side of their labels. Users can post their new creation to their Facebook page to increase their bottle’s votes and they can vote on other people’s concoctions. The winning label will win one lucky Facebook user $5,000 and criteria for winning is 25% creativity, 25% usefulness, 25% how well the look upholds Vitaminwater’s brand standers and 25% public vote totals.
At the beginning of the contest in September, Vitaminwater had around 400,000 Facebook friends. In a few short weeks the brand has increased their friend’s total to over one million Facebook users. The contest has been receiving all sorts of internet buzz from the ways that individuals used social media to pick the flavors to the fact that the entire contest is housed within a social network. The contest is a very unique way of crowdsourcing and it will be very interesting to see if the community of now more than one million people was able to create a new hit. Personally, I think their addition of caffeine will create a hit as they can position the product as a healthy alternative to those sugar-filled energy drinks, but only time will tell if the products sells well. When it comes to the contest, they can already consider it a success as they now have over 600,000 more people who they can directly community to without having to spend a substantial amount of money in traditional advertising channels. The winning Vitaminwater label will be announced in November.
Tags: Facebook, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Vitaminwater
