Case Study: Louisville Water Company

Company Case Study

Louisville Water Company

The municipal Louisville Water Company (LWC) provides water to the 1 million people in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as nearby Oldham and Bullitt counties, and is consistently recognized as one of the nation’s safest and cleanest water resources with water that has been named the “best-tasting tap water in America”. With this recognition and reputation, in 1997 LWC did something no other water utility to date has done: It trademarked its tap water as Louisville pure tap®, highlighting the quality, innovation and value of the Louisville’s tap water.

Louisville Water Company tapped (pun intended) in.Mode Marketing as its creative marketing agency of record in 2012. The Louisville pure tap® campaign started with an empty bottle and the message that if you want great, high-quality bottled water, all you need is the bottle. However, as the 2000s evolved and with the advent, and then explosion, of social media, LWC realized its much-needed presence in that arena. Enter in.Mode, which helped evolve the brand from focusing on the container to the product itself by way of its social media presence and content.

in.Mode’s social media mission is all about Louisville pure tap programs that center on enjoying tap water, highlighting the science behind it and illustrating the value of its water to a community. Louisville pure tap® is on hand at over 100 community events annually to serve water with its mobile water station or coolers and compostable cups, which is always, consistently, highlighted on social media. And earlier in 2018, Erin and her team worked with Louisville Water Company to create the Louisville pure tap® and “Tapper” (the mascot’s) 21st anniversary campaign (age 21, get it?) titled ‘Pure Perfection’, a 21-week celebration that included tours of Louisville Water facilities, pop-up events, and fun flashbacks from the 1990s when it all began, including a contest for a remake of the brand’s original 1997 rap song, “You Can’t Top the Tap” (created by a local ‘90s agency) encouraging submissions on social media in a variety of musical formats. Fun!

 

 

 

 

Louisville pure tap

Industry

  • Water Utility

Website

  • https://louisvillewater.com/

Business Results

  • Successfully managed, grew awareness of the brand, and built a social media following.
  • These programs continue on today.

In 2012, Louisville Water company chose in.mode Marketing to lead the Louisville pure tap® social media launch.

With in.Mode’s assistance and expertise, Louisville pure tap now reaches more than a million people through social media, events and education. Back in 2012 when in.Mode rolled out the very first Louisville pure tap social media channels, we successfully created a separate channel for the “water”, so Louisville pure tap was focused on the fun side of the brand via social, still our focus almost 7 years later. Initially on Facebook and Twitter, then expanding to other channels as the 2010’s progressed, in.Mode still creates and manages every single social post without missing a beat. And every year, without fail, Louisville pure tap’s social media followers have increased from zero to over 15,000 with the channels, all of them growing exponentially in popularity.

Results.

As Kelley Dearing-Smith, Vice President, Communications and Marketing Louisville Water Company, enthusiastically states, “Erin and in.Mode are very strategic and creative, and importantly, well connected in the community, which has helped us grow our partnerships and community relations. We love working with Erin and value the creativity she brings to the table.”