Project
The Mineral bottled water in India under the name 'Bisleri' was first introduced in Mumbai by Bisleri Ltd., a company of Italian origin in 1965. Mineral bottled water were in glass bottles in two varieties - bubbly and still in 1965 This company was started by Signor Felice who first brought the idea of selling bottled water in India. Parle bought over Bisleri (India) Ltd. In 1969 and started bottling Mineral water in glass bottles under the brand name 'Bisleri'. Later Parle switched over to PVC non- returnable bottles and finally advanced to PET containers. Ramesh Chauhan, chairman, Parle Bisleri created a market out of pure water. Excerpts from a conversation with Prerna Raturi:
Can I be honest? When we bought Bisleri mineral water from the Italian company, Felice Bisleri, in 1969 -- the company had been unable to market bottled water and wanted to exit the market -- we too did not see any potential for the product at that time. As a soft drinks company, we had Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca (cola, orange drink and lemonade) but no soft drink company was complete without a soda. So we merely used the name and launched Bisleri soda with two variants -- carbonated and non-carbonated mineral water.
But three decades ago, what could we say about a category that had no market? We didn't know our target group. Then, since bottled water is colourless, tasteless and odourless, it was not an easy product to advertise. Thus, the earlier brand building efforts focused on Bisleri being healthy with adequate minerals. The Italian name added a dash of class to it. The first print ad campaign captured the international essence and showed a butler with a bow tie, holding two bottles of Bisleri.The punch line was, "Bisleri is very very extraordinary" (the spelling of the punch line was designed to capture the consumer's attention). The campaign was successful and we were being noticed as someone who catered to the need for safe, healthy drinking water.
However, the real boost
Can I be honest? When we bought Bisleri mineral water from the Italian company, Felice Bisleri, in 1969 -- the company had been unable to market bottled water and wanted to exit the market -- we too did not see any potential for the product at that time. As a soft drinks company, we had Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca (cola, orange drink and lemonade) but no soft drink company was complete without a soda. So we merely used the name and launched Bisleri soda with two variants -- carbonated and non-carbonated mineral water.
But three decades ago, what could we say about a category that had no market? We didn't know our target group. Then, since bottled water is colourless, tasteless and odourless, it was not an easy product to advertise. Thus, the earlier brand building efforts focused on Bisleri being healthy with adequate minerals. The Italian name added a dash of class to it. The first print ad campaign captured the international essence and showed a butler with a bow tie, holding two bottles of Bisleri.The punch line was, "Bisleri is very very extraordinary" (the spelling of the punch line was designed to capture the consumer's attention). The campaign was successful and we were being noticed as someone who catered to the need for safe, healthy drinking water.
However, the real boost