We invented a new tool – AQUA SCANNER – a mobile app that gives you all the purity & safety information about ALL BOTTLED WATERS on the shelves.

Only by scanning the label, Romanians now get all the hidden purity information they need to be confident that the water they buy is good enough to give their children: the Nitrates concentration is shown in the first place, but also other factors as well: the PH, the level of minerals and so on.

The app is not only delivering the data about the purity of the water, but it is also comparing the water brands, helping people to make an informed decision on choosing the best product available.

All the scientific information was delivered by a third party – a certified national laboratory, that tested all the waters available at the time and provided the research data.

We needed to to make water purity "the talk of the town", so we went for the channels with the biggest reach and visibility in Romania: mobile – the fastest growing channel – and national TV stations, during prime-time news, broadly watched family shows, high rating programs etc., targeting parents with small children, health conscious groups, informed urban people and general audiences as well.

We brought to the public attention bold questions and facts to make people question their water choices:

”How much do you know about the water your child drinks?”

”How do you choose your water?”

”Nitrates are good for plant, but bad for you.”

“How much do you really know about the water you drink?”

”Find the truth about the waters in Romania.”

Then we would direct people towards the app download or to the campaign’s website to find real information about their chosen water brand.

EARNED MEDIA

The online organic reach of the campaign totaled in: 80 organic mentions and 1.3M total unpaid viewership.

But our campaign became a national discussed subject when The Romanian Waters Association felt pressured to drive an education campaign about water safety and purity, right after the launch of Aqua Scanner.

WATER PURITY AWARENESS AMONG ROMANIANS

People started questioning their water brands: over 4,000,000 of Romanians entered the Romanian Waters Association to find out about the purity of the water they drink.

Aqua Carpatica became the most downloaded marketing campaign app ever in Romania, with 150,000+ app downloads during the campaign and more than 4,500 session happening each day.

BUSINESS RESULTS

Aqua Carpatica became the no. #1 brand of bottled water in Romania in 2016, with the biggest value market share, surpassing two of its competitors, traditional brands with a big heritage behind, with sales rising with 33% during the campaign and 22% all year overall.

Aqua Scanner is a digital tool that generated national awareness on the purity and safety of bottled waters in Romania, a country with no law to compel water brands to disclose the essential information about the water purity on the labels.

Water purity became a national subject, discussed by specialists, influencers and regular people, but also empowered the Romanians to be confident about the water they and their children drink every day.

The campaign built trust for our brand with unquestionable evidence and it became the leader of the market.

Since the water safety and purity is a subject that concerns everybody, we went for a national awareness campaign. However, the health-awareness URBAN PARENTS were our main target group, since the newborns and the small children were the ones affected the most by the water law, which is ignoring the medical recommendations suited for their age.

Research showed that people were not aware of the problem: bottled waters were mistakenly perceived as being safe by default. So, the app launch campaign strategy was to raise awareness on “waters purity” by MAKING PEOPLE QUESTION THEIR CHOICES AND BELIEFS.

Fighting their long-lasting habits of buying the same brand, their poorly informed beliefs about how a water should be like or their preference for traditional brands, we brought into the public discussion a new topic: how do you know the water you buy is safe?

Aqua Carpatica was a big player in the bottled water category, with a strong differentiator: the water with the lowest concentration of Nitrates – unhealthy substances coming from intensive farming.

When their concentration in water is big, Nitrates can cause severe problems, especially for infants: intoxications (”Blue Baby Syndrome”) and even deaths.

Pediatricians recommend a Nitrates concentration of maximum 10 mg/l for the infants’ consumption, but the Romanian law allows brands to have 50 mg/l and it also doesn’t compel them to disclose it on the label – people were kept in the dark.

This is how on the supermarket shelves there are waters with as much as 5 times the maximum Nitrates level allowed, without anybody being aware of it.

Aqua Carpatica wanted to draw attention on the water purity & safety and to empower Romanians to be confident about the water they and their children drink every day.