The name of this brand of water is Duchy Originals, a name that suggests a link to royalty. It sounds sophisticated and "original" like it's trying to sell itself as one of a kind. Popular culture of this year would associate it with the growing love of British culture. 2012 has become the year that Britain stood out in the world for good reasons again - what with the Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics, Britain as been recognised once again and avid Anglophiles would probably see this as their gateway into the higher societies.
The packaging of the product is very elegant, the whole design seeming to make the water masquerade as a fine wine - making a great design for those who chose this product in a restaurant. It's a clear simple glass bottle, showing off the cleanliness of the water - suggesting the idea of purity. Unlike some other water brands, Duchy has a crest on it's label, something that highlights it's royal endorsements. Even the typography on the label is sophisticated and regal, the colouring seeming like an aged gold.
On the official website of the brand (found here), they make specific statements highlighting their natural farms, the purity of the water, it's royal connections and history. "At Waitrose and Duchy, we share a belief in the value of British organic food, grown and produced sustainably. It’s a pleasure we can all enjoy". This statement found on the official website is a prime example of how the marketing team of this brand are trying to highlight the primary reasons why they are better than their competitors. They highlight the key phrases and words that will strike a chord with their target audience; "value", "British organic food", "sustainable" - these are the main things that people are looking for these days and they promote those aspects prominently on the main page of the site.
They also make a very key point that their profits all go towards good causes:
"Thanks to your support, a donation from the sale of Duchy Originals from Waitrose products is given to The Prince's Charities Foundation. More than £1 million is raised annually in this way for distribution to charitable causes, including supporting British farmers and rural communities, and of which £75,000 goes to The Prince's Countryside Fund." [*]
They speak directly to the person reading, making them feel like they have done a good thing by purchasing this product. But at the same time, it makes those looking at the product who have not bought it feel like they should so that they do something good for these charities.
I wasn't overly impressed with the taste of the Duchy water we were presented. Though it was softer than some of the other brands and certainly tasted cleaner, it really didn't impress me. They seem to offer a lot of quality in their product but they didn't really seem all that different to regular water.
I originally thought that Duchy would be about £1.99, because of the glass bottle and the endorsements by royalty - so I was very surprised that it was only 81p; one way that they were sticking to their promise of "value".
Because it has "From Waitrose" on the label, plus all the hype about their partnership with the supermarket chain, it's safe to assume that the product would be found on the shelves of Waitrose. However, this does not exclude the possibilities of it being placed in restaurants and bars for those dinning out.
From searching around, I have found one advert for the product - but the taste testing activity we did was the first time that I had ever heard of the Duchy brand. I'm not sure if it's because they were promoting to specific audience, meaning I wasn't in that bracket, or if there was just a general lack of advertising for the product but the following is the only advert that I could find:
The advert uses celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal - giving the brand further endorsement - to wander through the farm where some of the other products of the brand are created, showing him eating some to prove it's great taste. However, this advert is simply for the entire Duchy brand and not specifically the water so people may not be aware that the bottled water option is available unless they look for the brand in store.
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