Any business or individual that aims to invest in the environment, has a tick in my book – but to make it look good while doing it? That’s another level.
Calm & Stormy is a mineral water produced by Quest Beverages, that offers a sustainable alternative to single-use plastic water bottles.
How do they do it? The mineral water is sold in aluminium cans.
“There’s nothing healthier and refreshing than mineral water, right?” begins Co-Founder, Murray Raeburn.
“And sure, there are heaps of water offerings. The only catch – it almost always comes packaged in plastic bottles.”
Single-use plastics has been making headlines for the last couple of years, due to its huge capability in destroying the environment, harming animals, and a number of other dangers.
Mr Raeburn explains: “The environmental cost of a single-use plastic bottle is way higher than the cheap price we pay at the checkout. Calm & Stormy solves that problem with Australian Mineral Water packaged in infinitely recyclable aluminium cans.”
However, this isn’t another article on how horrible plastic is, it’s an article about a solution! And a sophisticated looking one at that.
The back story
It was while working for a previous company that distributed single-use plastic water bottles that Mr Raeburn and his co-founder, Troy McKinna realised what harm it was potentially doing to the earth.
“It quickly dawned on us what the potential environmental consequences of this were. It was a sobering realisation that we needed to be part of the solution, not the problem.”
With a catchy name like Calm & Stormy, it’s easy to wonder how it came about, and Mr Raeburn explains that it was inspired by the water itself.
“It can be calm, still and peaceful. It can be stormy, wild and explosive. We love the juxtaposition in the name and intrigue it creates.”
Minimalistic and sleek are the words that came to mind, when I first opened my own Calm & Stormy can, it wasn’t too much – in fact everyone in the office, stuck their heads up from their computer screens and said: ‘oooh what’s that?’
“We knew the packaging would need to break a few category cues to stand out. We ruled out imagery of mountains and waterfalls and kept the blue ink dry at the can printers,” he says.
To infinity can beyond…
The road doesn’t end there for Calm & Stormy, as there are new product ranges in the pipeline already.
“… in the short term, we have more product variants launching in cans. We also have our eye on a couple of other categories that are basically plastic bottles full of liquid sugar.
“We’re pretty far down the path of product development and excited about shaking things up even further.”
Feedback from consumers has been positive, as it’s no shock horror that shoppers are becoming more conscious of their purchases, and how it has a domino effect on the environment.
“We’ve had amazing feedback on the Canned Water, as people are grateful for a sustainable alternative to plastic water bottles. It definitely helps that the cans are pretty sexy too.”
For those seeking fruitier flavours, the mineral water range is definitely attractive, and will work well when we finally begin to see normality and can attend events now.
Mr Raeburn finishes: “The ‘plastic free and ‘better for you’ trends have driven huge take up from progressive foodservice, events and entertainment venues and I think the demand is absolutely there in the retail and convenience channel.”
