Hutchison enters water cooler market
Hutchison Whampoa, the former parent company of Orange, has launched a new brand in the UK – Powwow – in an attempt to corner the office water cooler market and move into residential sales.
By Julia Day
Hutchison Whampoa, the former parent company of Orange, has launched a new brand in the UK – Powwow – in an attempt to corner the office water cooler market and move into residential sales.
The telecoms-to-property Hong Kong conglomerate has been selling water in Asia for 100 years, but Powwow is Hutchison’s first venture into the UK market.
It has created Powwow by buying ten UK water cooler companies, including Braebourne Water and Crystal Spring, and merging them under the new brand. The Hutchison water companies have a 30 per cent share of the UK water cooler market.
Hutchison intends to extend Powwow to Europe, where it has water businesses in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Portugal. It is also planning an assault on the residential market, but a spokesman refused to reveal details of the plans.
The company plans to provide a water cooler service rather than just water coolers. Brand consultancy Wolff Olins created the Powwow brand and has developed all of its communication. A larger scale launch is due at the end of the year.
