After a thorough analysis on Brita Products Co, we identified the three most important factors of Brita’s success were: firstly, they understood that the market’s wants for taste exceeded the functional needs that their competitors advertised. Hence, they were able to outperform their competitors who were suffering from marketing myopia by emphasizing only on the functional side of the product and gained a competitive advantage over competitors by offering what consumers valued most.
Secondly, as the cleanliness of water became a growing concern to US households, Brita’s success was also linked to the opportunities presented in the external environment. The contamination issues created a change in consumers’ attitudes towards demanding clean drinking water; hence Brita could tap on this emerging market.
Brita was also successful in identifying their competitors, hence applying the “class to mass” strategy by differentiating their products to suit the needs and discretionary income of different segments in the market. By pricing their products at different price range, Brita can tap into different income levels of consumers. Furthermore, Brita ensured that there was a Minimum Advertised Price, ensuring that their competitors would not cannibalise the higher price brand, allowing Brita to gain a larger percentage of market share, hence becoming a market leader.
During Clorox’s years of growth, it became the major manufacturer and marketer of home water purifier and other house wares in the US. Its dominant brands (with 85% being first or second brands in their categories), international expansion and acquisition of promising businesses enabled Clorox to form subsidiary and became the sole US distributor of Brita products. Among all marketing assets Clorox gained, its ability to understand the marketplace and customers’ needs and wants as a local manufacturer as well as its reputation in the US market can attribute the