Kor Water and RKS Design teamed up to create a new reusable water bottle they’ve dubbed a “personal hydration vessel.” Selling for $30 Kor and RKS are marketing the personal hydration vessel as a fashion accessory, attempting to achieve something similar to the way Steve Jobs formed the iPod into a fashion must have. 
So basically they created a sexy Nalgene, (but I’m pretty sure you can’t run over it with your car). I do take issue with the fact that “personal hydration device” is NOT a chic name for the new product. Why wouldn’t they come up with something original rather than putting together fancy words and expecting consumers to be wooed by it? I mean it’s not like we’re talking about some high tech gadget here. Magnificently designed or not – it’s still a water bottle. If you want to make it cool – fine. Make it a fashion icon, by all means – but does “personal hydration device” sound like the new fall fashion accessory to you?
Anyway, aside from the naming issues…. I’ll admit I’ve bought water strictly because I wanted the bottle. But the bottle is big, so it stays in my fridge; I don’t carry it around with me to reuse it. So yes, packaging appeal is there as a pretty direct motivator for purchase behavior….but are people really going to lug around a foot long water bottle in the name of fashion? I mean that brings ‘big purse’ to a whole new level. But who knows, perhaps they’ll be targeting briefcase carriers?
Granted the thing looks cool, is BPA free, reusable (and therefore GREAT for the environment), and ergonomic. So they’ve got a lot going for them, I’m interested to see what kind of marketing comes out of this since they’re aiming to make it more of a fashion accessory than a useful product. Maybe that’s the only way to get people to abandon buying a bottled water with every meal. I like the boldness – there’s huge creative potential here, not to mention environmental saving power. I guess we’ll see how it turns out.
Let me know what you think. Would you buy it?
