Hydro Flask create ‘go-anywhere’ gear that enables and elevates outdoor adventures.
Known for their insulated, stainless steel water bottles, they became a favourite amongst Gen Z & millennial generations in the US, back in 2019.
Since then, they’ve quickly expanded globally and can now be found in popular retailers both in-store and online. In fact, many of their leading products feature in The Telegraph and New York Times’ ‘best water bottles’ list for 2024.
The Challenge
The brief was split into three main areas:
-
Create a European campaign for a new colour range, incorporating key messaging provided by the US HQ. This had to include links to; “Refill for good”, the fight against single use plastics and their existing “#EveryBottleTellsAStory” campaign.
-
Conceptualise a UK specific roll out plan involving key retailers, content creators and the local public, to drive brand awareness amongst an untapped audience.
-
Create stand-alone, localised campaign content and imagery that will resonate with a broader European audience.
”“Keys, phone, wallet & Hydro Flask - a campaign to perfectly articulate and drive the narrative that a bottle really can be for life and is very much an everyday essential carry item.”
Ollie RobinsonManaging Director, Brandwave Marketing
The Result
Hydro Flask are not just a water bottle brand, they are driven by genuine purpose, meaning promotion of the protection of the outdoors is at the core of everything they do. Take their “#RefillForGood” initiative for example, which was a rally cry to encourage people to make the move away from single-use plastics.
We really wanted to leverage this initiative and bring Hydro Flask products to the forefront of consumers’ everyday life. Ultimately, the products are not just for hikes, picnics or car journeys after all!
From this, ‘Flask For Life, Not Just For…’ was born, emphasising the reusability of the product, no matter what you’re doing with your day.
In terms of visually representing the need for a bottle as an everyday companion, we took inspiration from existing consumer content.
We recognised a trend across UGC within Hydro Flask’s social following (seen directly below). Consumers held their bottles very similarly, showing beautiful landscapes, classrooms, or passenger views in the background and their bottle in the foreground.
This led us to the “Hydro Flask Hold”, almost positioning the product as ‘your right-hand man through life’. This acted as a great visual representation of the multi-use, every day journey we wanted to portray.
With the campaign solidified, we then conducted a multi-location and multi-season shoot across Europe to capture the products in different environments and demonstrate their versatility.
The shoot took in several settings, from car, bus and train commutes to university campuses, mountain hikes, coastal paths, gyms and home offices.
This resulted in localised key hero imagery for spring/summer, autumn/winter and separate seasonal videos for social to resonate with a broader European market.
”“A versatile campaign and creative direction that matches the direction of Hydro Flask! This campaign helps us to stand out in the many areas
We loved seeing Brandwave turn insights into inspiration to create our fantastic new creative platform. This will help us to expand and grow in EMEA! Thank you to Josie & the whole Brandwave team!”
Kit HaMarketing Director, Osprey & Hydro Flask, EMEA Helen of Troy
