LaCroix Sparkling Water
LaCroix Sparking Water is an amazing brand, which has grown exponentially in the past several years. Originally it was marketed to women in the Midwest and only had a very small market share. Once the brand was purchased by National Beverage Company who hired Alchemy Brand Group, they began to implement a new social media approach. The brand took off when a new label was created to emphasize LaCroix as a substitute for soda versus a flavored water. Their success could also be it was the right time for consumers to desire healthier, sugar-free drinks, but most experts agree LaCroix social media strategy is what propelled the brand. Currently they use multiple social media platforms, micro-influencer, and user-generated marketing to develop their consumer relationships. They have also implemented attractive brand apparel and contests to maintain consumer interest.
LaCroix markets to millennials, young adults and individuals who are seeking a healthier lifestyle. LaCroix’s social media strategy is to respond to every consumer comment posted each day on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Instagram is LaCroix’s primary social media channel, but they are active on all social media platforms. Being proactive with their followers, they don’t wait for comments to come to them, but they engage and seek out their followers’ opinions. The company also uses creative targeting and social content which captivates the consumers. LaCroix is known to have “one of the most successful user-generated content strategies on social media today” (Khleif, 2019). Because LaCroix constantly solicits input and therefore understands its consumers’ views, they can accurately measure and keep track of popular preferences. LaCroix successfully uses analytics to track and understand consumers’ demographic, geographic, and behavioral market segments from their consumer posts and how they react to target marketing. For example, LaCroix has now increased to over 20 flavors, as consumers asked for more variety. It could also be the flavors are less important to the consumers than the social media content. As Thomas Frank, a blogger for campus life, said, “It’s less about the taste…it’s more about an interesting fizzy thing that can replace soda” (Chaussee). Many consumers view LaCroix as a lifestyle symbol. Also, the brand social media images are bright, cheerful, and cool, therefore consumers like to be associated with the “hip” brand.
It is important to know your target audience and track their responses over time, because “The more you understand your followers, the better you can make use of your resources” (Buryan, 2018). Also, if you know how and why they choose your brand, you will be able to structure and prioritize your social media content to anticipate or meet their needs. In social media marketing, developing a relationship with your donors will endear them to your brand. Today’s users are demanding and want to be informed, entertained, and engaged all the time. LaCroix has become proficient at “marketing that doesn’t look at all like marketing” (Sutton, 2018). Their approach to social media content is authentic and encourages consumers to post stories about themselves and share their experiences with LaCroix. It is an impressive example of user-generated content which enables consumers to have their moment of fame. In addition to the other types of market segmentation, using psychographics will tell LaCroix why people buy, which will help them to “craft the right message” and direct it to the best platform (Birkett, 2021). Micro-influencers, which are consumers on social media with 10–100k followers, have been extremely successful and continue to promote the LaCroix brand.
With the social media and sales success LaCroix has experienced, it is difficult to recommend many changes to their social format. They do need to be aware that consumer interest can change at any time, so they must continue to be creative with their content and listen to what consumers have to say. It is important to not rest on your laurels because the public can be fickle and LaCroix must keep adjusting to what consumers indicate they want and need. To reach a broader target market, they may need to branch out to alternative forms of advertising such as radio and television. For example, there are brands which have been successful advertising on Hulu, Netflix, and other media. In addition, LaCroix faces stiff competition from Coke and Pepsi who each have a massive retail store presence and are promoting their own competitive sparkling water. Selling in the retail space is a competitive business which requires legal agreements and expensive contracts to secure prime shelf space in the stores. LaCroix’s owner, National Beverage, may not want to share more of their revenue with the large retail stores, just to have access to that form of sales. As mentioned earlier, I anticipate LaCroix will need to keep updating their social media content, to stay ahead of the competition.
References:
Birkett, A. (2021, January 6). Psychographics: What They Are & How Marketers Use Them. CXL. https://cxl.com/blog/psychographics/.
Buryan, M. (2018, March 20). Why Knowing Your Target Audience Is Key in Content Marketing? Socialbakers.com. https://www.socialbakers.com/blog/knowing-your-target-audience-is-key-in-content-marketing.
Chaussee, J. (n.d.). Review of How LaCroix beat Coke and Pepsi in the sparkling water wars. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved from https://www.lacroixwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/orlando-sentinel.pdf
Khleif, S. (2019, November 12). Case Study: La Croix’s User Generated Content Strategy. Atlanta Social Media Company -. https://www.imaginemediaconsulting.com/blog-all-posts/case-study-la-croixs-user-generate-content-strategy
Sutton, A. D., & author:, M. by this. (2018, September 10). Marketing That Doesn’t Look Like Marketing: The La Croix Story. Business 2 Community. https://www.business2community.com/marketing/marketing-that-doesnt-look-like-marketing-the-la-croix-story-02115595.
