Evian - Brand Extension

When I think of Evian I automatically think bottled water. It's a solid brand, been around a while and I don't mind the taste. (Yes, different brands of water do taste differently, to me at least)

But wait...

A few years ago when I was at Mooney's Bay beach for the Hope volleyball tournament I discovered an Evian brand extension.

Hope volleyball is a huge event and many companies sponsor it. I think that for my age group (17-30) it is a really good way to get your brand out there and create top of mind awareness. (The story I'm about to tell happened a few years ago and I still remember it and the brand top of mind) So, within minutes of getting through the gates at the tournament I was approached by a few sponsors, giving me their branded items (Vitamin water, radio station frisbees, and a mini bottle of Evian facial spray). I thought to myself, okay it's hot, we're at the beach, a refreshing spray....I guess it makes sense. At this time I was not in the advertising program, in fact I don't think I had even thought of applying yet and I was more in a scientific mindset because I had gotten back from McGill's science program recently. Makes ense that my next thought was: spraying water on your face in the sun and not wiping it off, sun burns skin a lot faster through water, maybe not so good of an idea.

To this day the advertising vs science debate about Evian's facial spray still gets me. As a brand extension it makes sense. You think Evian you think refreshing water, this is another use for water that's refreshing, therefore it's a good fit as an extension. As a scientific thing it makes no sense. Let's refresh your face but increase the burn you get.

So did the extension erode the core brand? I don't think so. Use me as an example, I would never buy or use the extension (the spray) but I drink Evian water (the core) just as much as I used to. And I'm sure the product has pretty good success with people other than myself, for one because it had the advantage of better odds for product success being a line extension of a successful brand.

So what did we get out of all of this?

Evian, just don't pitch the spray to science geeks!