LaCroix gets a brand boost from fan site

With an array of flavors including blackberry cucumber and pineapple cherry, sparkling water brand LaCroix is this year’s fizzy hipster drink of choice.Now it’s a new fan site that lets users “create” their own LaCroix flavor.

MyLaCroix.com, which is not affiliated with the brand, invites users to type in the name of a flavor they want to create and then design custom cans for it. It was built by creative firm Nelson Cash, which said in a blog post that the company has had 103 cases of the drink delivered this year. “We’d always wanted to build a LaCroix fan page, but how could we make it interactive for fans? A few drinks in and we had an idea: a LaCroix flavor generator,” the post read.

The brand was trending on social media through Thursday morning on the back of the site’s instant popularity. It is unclear if it has driven sales of the drink, although a prominent button at the bottom of the site invites you to “treat yourself” and takes you to an Amazon page where you can buy the product.

LaCroix’s Twitter handle and hashtag #LaCroix was used 5,000 times in the past week, according to Brandwatch. Mentions soared Wednesday, which saw over 3,200 mentions alone. There was a more than 2,100 percent increase in mentions the day after the site launched, said Brandwatch.

The top flavors on the site peel back the curtain on the Internet’s collective psyche. Favorite flavors include “Uber,” designed to look like the ride-hailing app … 

uber-57da41cd699be705c1f24704

…and the super-woke “White tears.”

white-tears-57d986114968487d3146adfe

This beautifully designed can was inspired by the hit retro Netflix series “Stranger Things.”

stranger-things-57d98cee4968487d3146af9f

In fact, design has been key to the brand’s success: La Croix’s visually vibrant packaging seems made for web culture. “It’s not surprising that people love to pose with it on highly visual social platforms like Instagram,” said Toni Box, director of social media and content at PM Digital.

The barely spends on paid media, choosing instead to focus on Instagram to engage with millennials. And where it does spend, it focuses on using micro-influencers by asking them to pose with the brand on social media.

LaCroix is the fastest-growing unsweetened sparkling water brand in the U.S., with sales doubling in the last two years to $225.5 million.

https://digiday.com/?p=198598

More in Marketing

Why Georgia-Pacific consolidated most retail media spending with seven networks after testing over 25 options

Figuring out which retail media network is worth spending on given the glut of new retail media networks can be a challenge for marketers.

Why the creator industry is setting its sights on on the small screen

As the creator economy continues to boom, creators are making their way off of mobile screens and onto the small screen.

Inside marketing’s elusive Quixote quest for digital ad transparency

Stuck in a spin cycle, marketers are grappling with the endless challenge of making tangible progress on ad transparency.