The Eye-Catching Bottle Designs

Even if we blur their names, we would all be able to recognize a Coca-Cola, Fanta or Ice-Tea Bottle in a supermarket. Different color codes but also different shapes. Well, for sports drinks, it's quite the same game! Each brand is trying to succeed, and to attract new consumers, by being different, attractive, meaningful and focusing on their packaging!
I took a closer look at three famous brands in the industry: VitaminWater, Powerade and Isostar. Believe me, the three stand out at 10 meters!

Let’s start with the most fun: Vitaminwater.

Source : James Wakefield

Bright colors, ordinary bottle shapes and original labeling. Red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, purple, burgundy ... there is a color for everyone!

A first particularity is that to design each of its products, the brand has given real name to each drink. Unlike its competitors which simply use the taste of the product as a name,

VitaminWater has "Focus" "Essential" « Rescue" or "Energy".

This choice allows the brand to reaffirm its commitment to the sporting world. All names are closely related to the desire market.

Source: VitaminWater

For a long time, we found the taste of the drink below the name followed by a small text written in casual and fun ways.But recently, VitaminWater has revisited the design of its label. Now the short text is gone and the whole looks more like something scientific. You can find the nutritional benefits and vitamin intake of each drink. On the other hand, the bottle still has the same shape.

Overall, the design remains quite the same.

This new packaging may be linked to the desire of the brand to be perceived more seriously in the sport environment by sharing the nutritional benefits on the label which for sure must be of interest to the sportsmen. 

Despite this small change, the brand keeps its cool and trendy image.

I do not know about you, but I think the attractiveness of the brand is more related to its colors, its image, its packaging than its sports benefits. Who does not feel cool and trendy when holding a VitaminWater’s bottle ?

Through its design, it is tempting to link the brand to the famous color chart : Pantone.

On this topic, it looks like people did not wait for this article to link the two brands on their own way. In fact, I found a VitaminWater’s project developed by the South African Dikonketso Itumeleng Kgomo (Art Director in Coca Cola Company South Africa) on Pantone Canvas - an online platform dedicated to top designers and creatives from around the world to share their creative work. 

Well, you may say that it is not a collaboration but at least, I found it interesting to see the two brand names side-by-side.

Source : Coca Cola

In contrast, if we look at Powerade’s packaging strategy, I think the brand has a more "futuristic" design. Actually, the bottle fits well with the brand values ​​and the notion of power, just like the name indicates. As a reminder, Powerade is owned by The Coca-Cola Company.

Last year, Powerade decided to completely revise its packaging for a more sustainable packaging and here is the new face of the bottle. Unlike VitaminWater, the shape of the bottle has a much more masculine side even though the shape is longer. The typography used is very thick, if not unsightly.

Plus, let’s be honest, it would not come to anyone's mind to buy a bottle of Powerade just for fun. The design of VitaminWater is better able to arouse the curiosity of customers thanks to its bright and explosive colors.

Source: Trisport

Another example, very different from the two above in its packaging, is Isostar’s bottle. The Swiss brand do it in its own way. To begin, I have to admit that when I first saw the bottle, I was wondering if it was really a sport drink or a household product harmful to human health.Yes, that is what I thought! The sport drink, exclusively sold in Europe has a very atypical and unique design.

The first thing I noticed is the presence of rectangular/triangular, yellow/orange/red symbols. I could not help but think of the dangerous pictograms shown on dangerous chemical. 

The bottle is full of information and if you want an advice, when you are in front of a Isostar’s bottle… be careful not to let the amount of characters go to your head!

In addition, the brand has made the choice to cover each bottle with a colored background, which is not very reassuring. We are always more confident when we can see what we are about to drink! Especially if it is a drink designed to increase our performance, we assume that it will have an impact on our health so we better know how the fluid looks like. 

Honestly, I think the brand is much more for real professionals of sports world, than individuals - like me - going to the gym 3 times a week for whom VitaminWater seems more suitable.

Through its bottle’s design, Isostar is positioning itself on a very « serious » and nutritional line, way ahead of VitaminWater and even Powerade.

Now it is important to repeat that Isostar is only sold in Europe. 

This leads me to believe that the bottle was designed as is to fit with customer targets. Not sure that Isostar would succeed with the exact same bottle in the US.

Last but not least, Isostar’s flagship product is not this ready-to-drink product, but a sport drink powder : a preparation for a very energetic isotonic drink. This may explain the design of the bottle. To be consistent and recognizable, the brand has opted for the same graphic line.

Lucie Lowe