Take two cups of water, mix it with a cool logo, stir in a plastic flask, and you have the recipe for Liquid Salvation.
And that's a recipe for the beginnings of success.
Liquid Salvation, Inc.
bottles water for the generation with an attitude of any age, but especially of generations X and Y vintage.
The young company's bottles will be seen on the shelves of all 13 Scolari's supermarkets in northern Nevada by the end of January.
Scolari's is a new account and it's a big one for Liquid Salvation.
"It's our entree into grocery stores," says Chris Warner, founder and president of the company.
The bottle is the product for this Renobased startup.
The water though premium and refreshing is incidental.
Turns out, getting water is the easy part for water bottlers.Warner found the challenge lay in finding a plant that could bottle into a flaskshaped plastic bottle.
But, because the bottle was the product,Warner persevered until he found a bottler in southern California,with a water source in the Palomar Mountain area.
Liquid Salvation is supported by a handful of investors willing to accrue sweat equity, says Warner.
It also has the energetic and charismatic Warner himself, an ex-decathlon and bobsled champion turned Hollywood stuntman turned entrepreneur.
The team now includes Warner's wife, Hiedy Anna Warner, a professional firefighter who specializes in marketing.
And creator of the logo and label art is Gil Gaus, a graphic artist with credits that include time with the DDB Needham advertising agency in New York.
He's also designed a moving advertisement for Liquid Salvation a motor home illustrated with logo and slogan, Pure Water for an Impure World.
Liquid Salvation tackled the price-competitive bottled water market by hitting the nightclub scene.
His target market the back pockets and inside coat pockets of late-night revelers.
He marketed to Reno first, making this typically non-trendy hamlet the hotspot of hydration and the first to discover Liquid Salvation.
Locals have been buying it at the Eldorado's Bubinga Lounge, Ceasar's Tahoe, in the village at Squaw Resort and Walden's Coffeehouse.
Now distributed by Southern Wine and Spirits of Nevada, Liquid Salvation price points range from $1.25 at Seven/Eleven stores to $5 at nightclubs.
And where's the profit? There's about 30 percent profit margin built in for Liquid Salvation, says Warner.
Another 25 to 30 percent goes to the distributor.
And retailers, be they minimarts or nightclubs, add their percentage on top of that.
The competition on the premium water level, says Warner, comes from Figi, water bottled in a signature square bottle, and Evian, which holds the cachet of being a French water.
Warner's marketing got creative to compete with these major players.He's already spread the hydration word to areas beyond nightclubs,with a tour that's included stops at the X Games, the Sturgis (S.D.) Motorcycle Rally, and a Snoop Dogg concert.
Next up for the energetic team is volume growth, says Warner.
Just recently, Liquid Salvation hit the Los Angeles nightclub scene, and is now appearing in the Concorde Club, the National and Club XES.
In the water world, though, huge volume cannot be achieved from one water supplier and bottler.
It happens by forming business relations with water sources and bottlers in various regions around the country.
So, that's on the agenda, says Warner.
And that's not all.Warner envisions Liquid Salvation brand extensions, such as energy drinks and fortified water.
Then, too, there's the more conservative market, those hesitant to put a she-devil-emblazoned flask into their back pockets.
The company came up with more conservative packaging for that market.
