Celebrating its fifth year in the marketplace TODAY May 22nd, WAT-AAH!, one of the fastest growing functional bottled water in the industry, continues its aggressive distribution nationwide with authorization in significant chain accounts including Harris Teeter (Southeast), Ingles (Southeast), Hannaford (New England), Price Chopper (Northeast), Big Y (New England), Sweetbay (Florida), ACME (Mid-Atlantic), Acme Fresh Market (Ohio) and Farm Fresh (Virginia). WAT-AAH! is also available in major retail outlets such as Kroger and its banners (Dillons, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralph's and Smith's), Ahold subsidiaries (Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover and Giant-Carlisle), Shaw's, Giant Eagle, BI-LO, Albertsons, ShopRite, Food Lion, Whole Foods Markets as well as school districts across the country. In addition, the brand is currently distributed through UNFI, Nature's Best, KeHe, C&S Wholesale Grocers along with various DSDs (Central Beverages, g.housen, Great States/Blue Coast Beverages, Matagrano Inc. and Preferred Beverage to name a few), as well as food service providers and vending machine companies nationwide.
WAT-AAH! continues to spread its positive message of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and playing an influential role in the fight against childhood obesity. The brand leads the organization of the "Move Your Body" campaign, one of the most popular and successful initiatives supporting the First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! program. With "Move Your Body," WAT-AAH! recruits and encourages schools year round to regularly utilize the exercise routine, recorded and choreographed by Beyonce for Let's Move!, and on the first week of May, the company spearheads its nationwide anniversary celebration. This year, a
PSA video kicked off a very successful campaign, which resulted in over 300,000 students and a number of entertainment and sports celebrity participants, national media coverage generating over 120 million impressions and most importantly, a formal acknowledgement and congratulatory letter from the First Lady Michelle Obama for the "Move Your Body" initiative and the company's dedication to promote the health and wellness to today's kids.
The brand is committed to building positive imagery around health and drinking water. Through relevant consumer touch points like music, sports, entertainment and social media, WAT-AAH! has made drinking water less boring and "cooler" in the eyes of children. Some of WAT-AAH!'s major initiatives have included product integration in The Wanted's highly anticipated music video, "
Walks Like Rihanna," and several unique and popular social media initiatives such as the "Blame It On The SUG-AAH!" contest, "Show Me WAT-YOU-GOT!" kid-talent competition and "WAT-AAH! Ride" for the teen skateboarding crowd. Additionally, WAT-AAH! was recently recognized by Billboard Magazine as one of the brands leading the trend in promoting healthy beverages with music celebrities. The brand has partnered with celebrities such as Nick Cannon, Carly Rae Jepsen, Mindless Behavior, Austin Mahone, Willow Smith, Jonas Brothers, Disney's Bella Thorne and many others. Furthermore, WAT-AAH! has been growing it's NFL/NBA partnerships and has worked alongside athletes such as Marques Colston of the New Orleans Saints, Pat Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals, Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions, Steve Nash of the Los Angeles Lakers and Lou Williams of the Atlanta Hawks to promote charities focusing on health, education and physical activity.
"The growth and acceptance of our brand in the market is strong and means one thing, that today's generation of kids do want and will choose healthier options. If it is marketed the right way, they will even go for the most boring product of all WATER," says Rose Cameron CEO and Founder of WAT-AAH!. "We are motivated to keep going and to continue our relentless approach to champion what we believe is the most important agenda for the children of this country today their health," she adds.
Forbes Magazine recently covered the brand in the article, "A New York Mom Outsmarts Coke and Pepsi," pointing out its timely health proposition, smart marketing and growing success at the retail level including schools. In fact, WAT-AAH! is one of the fastest growing functional bottled water brands in the industry, experiencing an annual growth rate of over 230%. Founded by Rose Cameron, WAT-AAH! was created after she learned an alarming fact that today's generation of kids are predicted to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents due in large part to childhood obesity. Inspired by her two boys and armed with 20+ years of experience in brand building and developing successful national marketing campaigns for various industries, they worked together to design WAT-AAH!'s screaming boy logo and its first line of premium functional products containing absolutely no sugar, flavor or colorings, which entered the market in 2008.
