Italian mothers tell their children that it's bad manners
to eat or drink
anywhere but at the table.
Nestle has tried all kinds of ingenious marketing devices
to break through,
but to little avail.
Post-Gazette.com
The Wall Street Journal
By Deborah Ball
Monday, May 23, 2005
MILAN -- Italians drink more bottled water than anyone
else in the world
does -- but they don't drink it on the go. Italian mothers
tell their
children that it's bad manners to eat or drink anywhere
but at the table.
Strict licensing laws make it nearly impossible to sell
food or drinks at
places like newsstands.
Now Nestle SA, a giant in the bottled-water business,
is trying to build a
new market here by changing deep-seated Italian habits.
"If you ask me whether I can envision Italians walking
around with a cup of
coffee in their hand, I don't think so. But if it's water,
I think that's
possible," says Fabio degli Espositi, head of distribution
for Nestle
Waters.
So Nestle has designed a new bottle top with a membrane
to prevent leaking
into leather handbags. To create excuses for Italians
to drink water
outside, Nestle managers are organizing pickup soccer
games and aerobic
sessions on Italian beaches -- and making sure to pass
out Nestle water.
Eating and drinking on the street violate two cardinal
rules in Italy --
looking good and eating well. "It gives me goose bumps
to even think of
it," says Nicoletta Schlechter, a 47-year-old Milan lawyer.
Italians drink an average of 189 liters of bottled water
a year, the
highest consumption in the world. By contrast, Americans
drink only 69
liters, according to Canadean, a U.K. market-research
group.
Though tap water in Italy is perfectly fine to drink,
about 265 different
water brands are sold in the country. Since Roman times,
Italians have
believed in the curative properties of mineral waters.
And some small towns
pipe spring water into public fountains.
But Italians drink just 12 liters a year on the move,
half what Americans
do, according to Canadean. Nestle consumer researchers
found that just 9
percent of Italians drink water in the car, for instance.
Italians can buy water in a liquor bar, or at a kiosk
near a tourist
attraction like the Colosseum in Rome, but it isn't easy
to find on the
street. After aggressively pushing individual bottles
of soda for three
years, Coca-Cola Co. says on-the-go sales represent just
5 percent of its
Italian sales, compared with about 50 percent globally.
A gelato or a slice of focaccia is basically the only
food Italians enjoy
on the street. Italians are often taught that eating
or drinking while
walking causes indigestion. And many shops and other
businesses still close
for two hours between 12:30 and 2:30 in the afternoon
so people can enjoy a
leisurely meal.
Nestle, a Swiss company and the world's largest food maker,
started its
push among Italians on the go with Acqua Panna, a brand
aimed at young
women. TV ads for the squeezable hourglass-shaped 75
cl (25.4 oz.) bottle,
known as Panna 75, last year featured a fashionable cartoon
character named
Lulu who carries a purse containing Acqua Panna, tipped
over to show that
it doesn't leak. Nestle hired designer Roberto Cavalli
to create a
limited-edition label for the water and a small plastic
purse to hold Panna
75 that was given out at his recent fashion shows here
in Milan.
Edmunda Insam, owner of a cafe in central Milan, says
she drinks at least a
liter of water a day for its health benefits but won't
drink while walking
and is nervous about stashing a bottle in her purse.
"If I'm really
thirsty, I might buy a small bottle, but I look for a
place where I can
stop and drink it, like in a park," she says.
Nestle researchers found that Italian mothers believe
that fizzy drinks and
ice aren't good for kids. So, to target children, Nestle
came up with a
brand of still water called Issima -- an Italian suffix
used in
superlatives -- that it sells in 11.2 oz. bottles. Nestle
marketers handed
out free samples to mothers in supermarkets and explained
that the
squeezable bottle fits neatly in lunchboxes, and is neither
fizzy, nor
cold, nor a soda.
Nestle held contests for kids on its Issima Web site with
prizes such as
radios and flashlights. The site lets kids play a game
following the
adventures of Issimo, a skateboarding cartoon character
who is also
featured in TV ads. Nestle signed a deal with Autogrill,
Italy's largest
roadside restaurant chain, to include Issima in its kids'
meals.
For kids, "we wanted to come up with something that didn't
make them feel
like babies in front of their friends," says Federico
Galimberti, head of
consumer research for Nestle Waters.
As a publicity stunt, in recent months during ski season,
Nestle set up
plexiglass and aluminum igloos on the mountaintops of
popular ski resorts
with lounge chairs nearby, and flags marking the areas
as "Silence Zones."
Inside the igloos were books on mountaineering, along
with herbal teas and
chocolate. Nestle hired young women, dressed in matching
white ski outfits,
to pass out more than 2,000 water bottles each weekend.
One weekend in late March in the Alpine resort of Courmayeur,
the Nestle
women cajoled skiers to stop and try the new waters and
fill out postcards
with their reflections on the mountains. Several men
scribbled their phone
numbers for the women.
As her two children, Sofia, age 4, and Giorgio, 10, lounged
by the igloo
and played with Issima bottles, Barbara Gatti, who is
from Pavia, outside
Milan, said she didn't plan to change her water-buying
habits. She buys big
bottles of water for her family, and she isn't brand-loyal.
As Sofia pestered her to open the Issima bottle, Ms. Gatti
said, "The kids
like them, but I buy what's cheapest at the supermarket."
With all these efforts, Nestle has inched up its share
of the $3 billion
Italian water market to 29 percent last year from 25.8
percent in 2003,
almost all of the increase attributable to smaller bottles.
To intensify its efforts, Nestle recently brought over
Pietro Marta to run
its sales team. His 20 years of food experience includes
four years selling
Nestle ice cream and candy in vending machines. Mr. Marta's
job is to place
7,500 Nestle branded coolers filled with its new waters
in bars before
summer. Because newsstands can't sell drinks, Nestle
figures people will
buy water-to-go from bars. Since March, Mr. Marta and
his team of 200
salespeople have placed 1,000 coolers.
Liquid Market
With its new offerings, Nestle is trying to persuade Italians
to drink more
bottled water away from the table.
Average consumption of bottled water per year
Italy: 189 liters per person U.S.: 69
Average consumption of water while on the move Italy:
12 U.S.: 24
Source: Canadean