High Vis, Ultra Fizz- How LaCroix Sells to their Target Market
Any successful business knows who their target market is, this allows them to cater to advertisements which align with their interest and personal beliefs. LaCroix is a fantastic example of a company that has identified its target market and has invested its resources into marketing towards that group of people.
When looking at the target market from LaCroix Sparkling Water we see that they are marketing to a younger millennial crowd (think hipster). Their cans feature bright colors that stand out while being easily identifiable as their own brand. They have also gone with a naming convention for their product line featuring french words. This helps strengthen the branding of LaCroix being inventive and hip because just as you sound more sophisticated ordering a venti mocha from Starbucks you feel cooler cracking open a sparkling can of limoncello. I would assume most people would be surprised to learn than the company doesn’t hail from France but instead the foreign land of Wisconsin. (Trust me being someone who moved there for their undergrad there are times it feels like a foreign country).
Personally, I land in the camp of enjoying LaCroix sparkling water. In 2014 I gave up drinking pop, (I’m from Minnesota so for those of you who don’t know pop is soda pop). Instead, now I find myself enjoying the subtle flavors and the carbonation of sparkling water. Although I am not a loyalist to any particular brand I do feel a more personal connection to LaCroix water because it is a product of Wisconsin.
So what does LaCroix do to market towards their target audience? Looking at their Instagram feed we can see that they are a very light and bright company showcasing bright colors and happy scenes. They also showcase their audience on their page enjoying their products. Looking further into the page and their website we can see that they are marketing towards people who are more health-conscious. Something that notably stood out to me was that on their recipes page on their website they showcase how to make mocktails with their products, not cocktails. This just helps further illustrate that their target demographic is younger people who are more health-conscious. One thing that stands out as being weird to me for a company based in Wisconsin is that the brand seems to be highly focused on “Summer Vibes”. The bright colors and fruit flavors all bring to mind hot summer days enjoying a LaCroix Sparkling water poolside. Something about being buried to my waist in snow 7 months of the year doesn’t seem very conducive to their marketing.
However, overall their marketing strategies are very effective and they have created a very loyal following for their brand when you stop and evaluate what the product is. At the end of the day, they are not just selling their customers flavored sparkling water they are selling an overall bubbly idea of health and happiness.
