BMSD LaCroix Flavor Challenge

For the love of LaCroix

If you open the fridge at BatesMeron on any given day, you’ll find an assortment of junk food, lunches, bagels and, perhaps most importantly, cans upon cans of LaCroix. A good number of the BatesMeron folks have taken a liking (or rather, an obsession? an addiction?) to the bubbly, flavored water beverage, and we just can’t get enough. From berry and lemon to apricot and peach pear, it’s clear that we’re a team fueled not only by coffee and beer, but also by fizzy cans of LaCroix, too.

What’s behind the sparkling water’s popularity?

While LaCroix has been around for more than 30 years, its popularity has risen dramatically in the past few years. An article by Vox attributes this spike in popularity to the increasing health consciousness of Americans, and the move away from sodas to low-calorie and no-calorie beverages. While LaCroix doesn’t give the same sugary rush as a can of Coke or Pepsi, it still has the crisp, bubbly and refreshing taste of a soft drink without any of the calories and sugar.

LaCroix’s clever use of social media

For many, LaCroix is more than just a thirst quencher; it’s a lifestyle. From the colorful, ’90s-esque packaging to the unique flavors, this is a brand that people love to drink—and they love to share this love on social media. A simple Instagram search for #lacroix comes up with nearly 90,000 posts, and the @lacroixwater Instagram page has more than 60,000 followers.

Seeing the value in these social media influencers, LaCroix focuses much of its marketing efforts on engaging their followers on social media, rather than spending the big bucks on tv spots. According to an article by Inc.com, the brand takes the time to respond to their consumers on an individual basis to increase engagement. They also target “micro-influencers,” and often send out free cases to followers to smartly increase brand loyalty and authenticity.

Our LaCroix Flavor Challenge

With a whopping 20 flavors currently on the market, I thought it would be a fun experiment to see if the BatesMeron team could guess 10 of those flavors in a blind flavor challenge. The flavors included: orange, peach pear, cantaloupe pink grapefruit, coconut, mango, passionfruit, apricot, cran-raspberry, lemon and kiwi watermelon.

The Setup

Each contestant was given 10 cups filled with a different flavor of Lacroix, along with a list of 10 flavors to match up to each. Contestants were given as much time as they needed, and could go back to taste the other flavors.

The Prize

This beautifully creative LaCroix crown made by our fabulous designer, Katie!

And the Winner is…

Katie! Who guessed 8 out of 10 flavors correctly and earned back the crown she made.

Results

Most people thought this challenge was more difficult than they had anticipated. Many said that the flavors started to blend together by the end. A few interesting tidbits:

• The average score was 6 correct out of 10, with 3 being the lowest score and 8 the highest.
• We found out that most of the flavor came from the smell of the beverage. If you plugged your nose, they all just tasted like bubbly, unflavored water and it was difficult to tell the difference between any of them.
• Coconut was the easiest to guess correctly, with all 8 players guessing this one right.
• Apricot was the hardest to guess, with only 1 player guessing this correctly.

Whether or not you can actually guess which flavor of LaCroix you’re drinking really doesn’t seem to matter. The brand has garnered a huge following, particularly amongst social media-loving millennials. We were certainly willing to play along:

Behold the crowning of @bambibloodlust, queen of the #BMSD @lacroixwater taste test.

A video posted by BatesMeron Sweet Design (@batesmeron) on Oct 20, 2016 at 1:58pm PDT

And true to their on-point social media strategy, LaCroix even congratulated our flavor-challenge champ with this, and it only makes us love them more.

@BatesMeron @BambiBloodlust all hail the Queen! pic.twitter.com/wzz9VVkmkI

— LaCroix Water (@enjoyLaCroix) October 24, 2016