Water Research & Pepsi product design

Client: Pepsi

Scope of Work: Market research, focus groups, product design, field testing.

Advantage: Creative eyes + Robust research

Dpgw was contracted to develop a comprehensive report of water dispensing patents in the U.S. to support a proprietary water dispensing unit for Aquafina. 

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A 60-page patent report is dull, so we expanded the scope to study where water patents were applied in the field and how these patents were changing to meet new market demands for water. What we found sparked a blue ocean idea.

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The U.S. market for water has been expanding due to increased education around daily hydration and new product offerings such as flavored, sparkling, and high PH formulas. At the same time, areas where dispensing patents are used the most (public buildings, campuses, & cafeterias) were not changing to meet these new demands. Tap water came from the fountain, but sparkling and flavored water came from a can.

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What if Aquafina offered all three (and more) in a single dispenser?

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Better yet, what if we found a local manufacturer that could produce a sample of what this dispenser would look like? 

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We did, and when our team presented our findings to Pepsi with the option to produce a working model they agreed.

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We designed two models that were market-tested on 5 college campuses across the U.S. Our report expanded from patent research to venture strategy and the Pepsi team walked away with information for their engineers and a business model for their development team. 

Urban Greenhouses

For Japanese Juice

Client: KAGOME

Scope of Work: market research, focus groups, product development

Advantage: Creative eyes + LA + Robust research

Retail Feedback

For Hong Kong CPG

Client: SMOK, Hong Kong IVPS International Limited

Scope of Work: Retail interviews, product testing, POS placement

Advantage: Field team + Smart reporting