WE Communications, which won the brand strategy and creative brief following a competitive pitch which included incumbent Ogilvy and Publicis, is expected to launch separate rebranding campaigns for the respective brands by April.
"Bonaqua is one of the leading (mineralised water) brands in Hong Kong and it has been growing quickly, so we want to really enhance the consumer connection. But it's still a very competitive category," said Iris Chan, WE Communications general manager, Hong Kong, who added that the personal bottled water market in Hong Kong generated HK$450 million (US$57.6 million) in sales over 2006.
"But Bonactive is a different story. It's a much smaller market in the first place, and because it is a brand in its infancy in terms of business, consumer awareness and equity, we need to improve those aspects to improve our competitive edge."
According to Chan the sports and energy drink market in Hong Kong was at US$32 million for 2006, but she noted it was a category that was growing quickly. Bonactive competes with Japanese brand Pocari Sweat, GSK's Lucozade and AS Watson's Isotone.
'We think the biggest challenge for Bonactive will be how to grow the whole category, and build scale behind the brand."
