Cristaline: I.D Card
- Natural spring water brand
- Creation: 1992 by Pierre Castel and Pierre Papillaud
- Owner: CASTEL Group - Neptune-Rowane entity
- Particularity of its composition: 22 different sources
- Number of Production sites: 17 on the french territory
Cristaline is also...
- present in 40% of french households
- the leader of still water brand in France with a market share around 26 % in 2010
- the cheapest natural spring water on the market apart from private labels offers.
Since its creation, the positioning of Cristaline does not much evolved: it remains a Family water, perfect for daily consumption and above all economical which leads this brand as a direct competitor of tap water consumption without the elaboration of a powerful communication strategy.
Source: Official Website of Cristaline and Datamonitor Study French bottled water market 2010
Discretion and provocation new keys of success?
Therefore we can wonder how the brand Cristaline became the leader in terms of bottled water on the French market. As far as we can notice, Cristaline is quite rare in terms of Media and Off-Media advertising.
However the Media plan of Cristaline is more complete than it seems. Indeed this brand is communicating on the 4 main Media: TV, Print, Posters and Internet.
Its TV presence is quite low. A few spots were elaborated (1 spot per year) due to financial restrictions.
Between 2002 and 2009 Cristaline played on the economical value of the product.
That’s why the Castel group decided to personify the brand Cristaline by one individual: Guy Roux ex-player and ex-coach of the A.J Auxerre french football team.
This partnership between the brand and Guy Roux was not due to chance. Besides the fact that Cristaline was one of the official sponsors of the AJ Auxerre football team, Guy Roux’s personality embodied values of the brand. Indeed Guy Roux has always been seen as a penny-wise man and even a bit ‘stingy’. That’s why Cristaline decides to give a humoristic tone of its ads with its presence and some funny scenario.
Spot TV 1: Guy Roux for Cristaline 2004
2nd (2007) and 3rd (2008-2009) TV spots:
=> Focus on 2007: Does Cristaline is becoming reckless?
In 2007, Cristaline created a scandal after the diffusion on its poster campaign and several games children-oriented ( Quizz…). Indeed the brand was condemned by the jury of advertising deontology and the Professional Regulation Advertising Authority because of wrong allegations regarding the quality of tap water.
Cristaline gave a distorted image by involving a non-warranted quality and potablity of tap water. Same deal for the game Cristaline proposes on its website. The quiz was built on distorted questions with the purpose on showing that tap water is not perfect… at all and bottles water, especially Cristaline represent an excellent alternative.
As you can see on these illustrations, we notice the prosecution on the left side with a suggestive picture of all negative aspects of tap water. On the other hand the picture of Cristaline appearing as an obvious answer to all issues of tap water consumption. Posters display clear and understandable messages. In addition the simplicity of the accessible water to all
This campaign certainly created a buzz but a bad one. The duration of the campaign was short (only 1 week) but still. All media talked about it and in some way tarnished the brand image of Cristaline.
Despite their conviction, the quiz is still appearing on their official website.
2010: a new image for Cristaline?
In December 2010 Cristaline decided to change its image by reinforcing the brand positioning around its core target: Family and especially children. This new TV spot obviously marks a break with the previous campaign (more focused on the cheap characteristic of the brand). This new spot was launched last year in the period of Christmas.
New Spot - December 2010
Even if Cristaline suffers from the decline of the bottled water market and its bad buzz around tap water quality, it remains the first brand of natural spring water consumed in France. Guess Cristaline remains IN after all ! J
Bonus : Brand Prism
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