It is a story that does a lot of talking in the last few months on social networks. In 2016, the brand of mineral water crystal-clear launched its new format of cap ” snap-click “. It is an opening system is designed to clip in and unclip while still attached to the bottle. First adapted to the formats of 50 cl in 2016 and then generalized to those of 1.5 liter, the system is presented as ” greener “, “more convenient” and “more hygienic” by the brand. Unfortunately for her, all its consumers have not perceived as such. On the canvas, they were many to express their discontent.
Storm in a water bottle
Bottles that are closed improperly, accidents of water upside down in the bags, splashes on clothes… In a few months, the messages denouncing the side effects of the new cap is growing. Calls for the return of the traditional cap become viral. Internet users do not hesitate to share their incomprehension in the face of innovation. On Twitter, a survey launched in favour of returning to the previous system of bottling, more traditional, had more than 32 000 “retweets” at the time of writing these lines.
On Facebook, groups are created to call for the return of the old cap. Of the humorous posts are posted by the users. “I’m a very big consumer of Crystalline and the arrival of this new cap was for me a very great shock. In effect, the pseudo cap is not practical, there are always splashes and it closes very bad, […]. If crystal-clear reviews its policy of closures, I think, seriously, reluctantly, to change water. :/ Friendly “, wrote, for example, Loïc Le Gall on one of them.
“Ecological approach” and pedagogy
For its part, Crystalline justifies the launch of this cap built in to the bottle mainly for reasons ecological. “The idea comes from Pierre Papillaud, our former president, who was very moved to see the birds swallow the caps. We have a real desire to reduce the number of plugs in the nature, ” says Agnès Jacquot, the director of marketing of the group Roxane. It claims savings in plastic material thanks to this new cap. The implementation of this innovation would be especially need for the “heavy investment” on the bottling lines of the twenty factory of the brand. “This reflects our true commitment to protect the environment. It is a value in the DNA of our company, ” says Agnès Jacquot. In recent years, for reasons of economy, the mark would have also halved the weight of its bottles.
In spite of everything, in the face of numerous negative feedback, the brand of mineral water acknowledges that the cap ” has been able to disrupt the users at the first use.” While minimizing the scope of the distresses, ” very limited and very rare. A majority of consumers we were commended for the cap ” advance Agnès Jacquot. She adds that the attachment of consumers to the brand ” was more important than what we imagined “.In order to overcome the “disruption” of its customers, the company has been up to create a tutorial video explaining the operation of the system of bottling.
“We have worked hard with our designers on the noise of the opening.” describes Agnès Jacquot. His advice to avoid accidents for bottles that spill ? “The most important thing is to hear the small click and the clack of opening and closing,” explains group marketing manager Roxane. Not sure, however, that it will be sufficient to calm the anger of some consumers very tucked up against the mark.
