0:00:05 > 0:00:08The Foods That Make Billions is the inside story
0:00:08 > 0:00:16of how big business feeds us, told with exclusive access to the world's largest food companies.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Over the last 50, 60 years, there's been a radical
0:00:19 > 0:00:24change from the time of very little availability to a time of plenty.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Looking at three products, the business has transformed
0:00:30 > 0:00:36from novelty into necessity, cereals, bottled water
0:00:36 > 0:00:37and yoghurt.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42This is the story of how giant food companies
0:00:42 > 0:00:47transform cheap commodities into hugely-profitable brands.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51It's just a blank canvas for an artist to create products using
0:00:51 > 0:00:56very cheap materials to create enormously-lucrative products.
0:00:56 > 0:01:03And how they persuade us to fork out billions by selling us dreams.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Advertising is one of the foundations
0:01:05 > 0:01:07of the modern food industry, there's no question.
0:01:07 > 0:01:14It's also the story of an industry that exploits our health fears and courts controversy.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17It's a trick that has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Say it's going to prevent cancer, you can take
0:01:21 > 0:01:25that ingredient that costs a few cents and then sell it for multiples.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29This is the story of the foods that make billions.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Business success in the food industry
0:01:40 > 0:01:42can be attributed to many different factors
0:01:42 > 0:01:44but there is one
0:01:44 > 0:01:49that stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of its importance.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Added value is at the heart of the business
0:01:51 > 0:01:58of every processed-food company and is the key to the huge fortunes generated by our best-known brands.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Transforming cheap commodities like grain into premium products
0:02:04 > 0:02:09like breakfast cereals is THE ultimate recipe for success.
0:02:09 > 0:02:15Processing, packaging, marketing and advertising are all part of this alchemy.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24We take the kernel, we take out the germ cos the germ contains the most
0:02:24 > 0:02:29oil and that will go rancid in cornflakes if we didn't take it out.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31We also take off the skin
0:02:31 > 0:02:33because that helps the flavours,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38the sugar, the salt and the malt to penetrate.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44We then cook it, dry it down, roll it out
0:02:46 > 0:02:48and then we toast the finished product.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56Breakfast cereals are the archetypal processed food.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59You start with a whole grain,
0:02:59 > 0:03:05but then you process it, you strip it of anything that slows down eating,
0:03:05 > 0:03:12you add reinforcing substances, you add sugar to it, you add other stimuli to it.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15You make it into a habit.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20You add the emotional gloss of advertising. You add toys to it.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22You make it part of the routine.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25You make it something that is socially acceptable.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35A kilo of corn costs around 15 pence.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40On the High Street, a kilo of Kellogg's cornflakes comes to £3.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42A 2,000% difference.
0:03:48 > 0:03:54This process of buying low and selling high is known in the business as "adding value".
0:03:54 > 0:03:57It's what the modern food industry does.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04The way we make money is to process food as much as possible, add value to it,
0:04:04 > 0:04:05add convenience, add packaging,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08add health claims, whatever you can do,
0:04:08 > 0:04:09complicate it, essentially,
0:04:09 > 0:04:14and you get people to pay for other things besides the very cheap commodities
0:04:14 > 0:04:15at the bottom of the food chain.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20In simple terms, if you're selling something with added value,
0:04:20 > 0:04:21it's something where
0:04:21 > 0:04:26you have turned the raw material into something
0:04:26 > 0:04:30that the consumer either couldn't or wouldn't do themselves
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and they're therefore prepared to pay for it.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Breakfast cereals are at the heart of this equation.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42We pay more because we believe we don't have any time.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47The foods which have won out have been things like breakfast cereal
0:04:47 > 0:04:50which require no cooking, no skills.
0:04:50 > 0:04:51You don't even need a kitchen,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55you just need a bowl, a spoon, a bit of milk and the packet.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59And what appears to me is the fact that there's no messy washing-up or cooking to do.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Kellogg's can be served straight from the pack.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09There is a limit to the amount that humans can eat, so in business,
0:05:09 > 0:05:14finding ways of charging more for the same thing is an economic necessity.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16There are many ways of adding value.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Promising dreams, lifestyle
0:05:20 > 0:05:24and health are just some of the food industry's most effective,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27whether selling the benefits of bottled water, cereals
0:05:27 > 0:05:34or yoghurt pots. This equation offers consumers sometimes intangible benefits
0:05:34 > 0:05:38but offers the food industry very real riches.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Without added value, there is no added profit for the food companies.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54Understand this process and you will understand how the modern food business works.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Building a leading brand is complicated and expensive.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10The money involved in investment, advertising and marketing
0:06:10 > 0:06:14is reflected in the premium that customers pay.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17This is the value of a brand.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22It's something the consumer knows and trusts and that's why they keep buying it.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28In the food business, branding is a particularly vital ingredient for success.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34The growth of the supermarket own brand threatens the grip of the major food companies.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38It calls into question both the idea and the value of brands.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44Without the real costs of branding, supermarkets can undercut the competition.
0:06:44 > 0:06:50Nowhere is this business battle more aggressively fought than in the cereal aisles of our supermarkets.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56The years where own-label really grew, Sainsbury's brand,
0:06:56 > 0:07:01came to the fore during the 1960s and early 1970s.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06By the mid-1970s, around half of what we were selling was Sainsbury's brand.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11The first product that we introduced, I think, was cornflakes followed by a sequence
0:07:11 > 0:07:18of other slightly less-popular lines, but which amounted to quite considerable volume in total.
0:07:18 > 0:07:24The role of own-label is a particular part of the competition in the UK marketplace.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29It's not unique. There is own-label elsewhere in the world, but nowhere is own-label such a big part
0:07:29 > 0:07:32of the mix and I would argue, therefore,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36that nowhere does the consumer get a better deal because the big-branded companies
0:07:36 > 0:07:42are kept on their toes in the UK in a way that they're not anywhere else in the world.
0:07:42 > 0:07:48The threat from the supermarkets has been a wake-up call for the cereal giants.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49I think the first thing
0:07:49 > 0:07:52that Kellogg's recognised was that this was a huge threat.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54They absolutely spotted that supermarkets
0:07:54 > 0:07:58were building their own brands and building their own reputation.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01We thought they were sort of parasites because they were copying
0:08:01 > 0:08:05our products and riding, if you like, on the back of our advertising.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12For the manufacturers behind the well-established brands, there were two possible responses.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Accept it or fight.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I felt it was incredibly important that we actually
0:08:18 > 0:08:21got into the manufacture of own-label ourselves
0:08:21 > 0:08:24because the only way that that business could go was up
0:08:24 > 0:08:29and if it was going to go up then we needed to have a part of it and as long as we didn't have
0:08:29 > 0:08:33a part of it, it was just cutting into our market, our share,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36our profit and I just felt that it was vital
0:08:36 > 0:08:39that we got into own-label as soon as we possibly could.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Within the business, that was not a very popular move.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46My father particularly felt that we should not be in own-label.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50It was felt sort of somewhat of a sacrilege
0:08:50 > 0:08:56to start producing for the own-label when own-label
0:08:56 > 0:08:57was our biggest enemy at the time.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02But arch rivals Kellogg's chose not to touch own-label
0:09:02 > 0:09:06arguing that their brand equals unrivalled quality.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11We felt it was extremely important that we differentiated our products
0:09:11 > 0:09:16as much as possible from the own-label brands
0:09:16 > 0:09:24so we were sort of passionate about keeping a gap between our quality and their quality.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29This trusted sign of quality still stands today so if you don't
0:09:29 > 0:09:34see Kellogg's on the box, well, it won't be Kellogg's IN the box.
0:09:35 > 0:09:41A kilo of Kellogg's cornflakes costs around £3 in the supermarket.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46A kilo of own-brand costs around £2.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52We were drawing our customers' attention to the fact that Sainsbury's own-label
0:09:52 > 0:09:54was the same quality as the big brands
0:09:54 > 0:09:58but much cheaper, at least 20% cheaper, because we don't have
0:09:58 > 0:10:05those extra costs of advertising and marketing and we're able to pass that benefit on to customers.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07But when consumers buy a Kellogg's product
0:10:07 > 0:10:11they know what they're getting, they're getting high-quality food.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13We have an amazing trust with consumers.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18So they know what they're getting. They don't always know what they're getting with private label.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22On matters of taste, the difference between own-label and branded
0:10:22 > 0:10:26was harder to quantify, even for one of the people who made them.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31There was never really much difference in the taste between the two
0:10:31 > 0:10:35so I don't think the consumer would necessarily notice
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and it certainly didn't worry me
0:10:38 > 0:10:45that it wasn't something that was going to be detrimental to the sector as a whole.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48You know, they were very well made and basically,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51very similar ingredients so there was never really a problem.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56Own-label is a fundamental threat to the entire philosophy of branding.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03It's had a profound impact on all the big food manufacturers.
0:11:03 > 0:11:10If you look at processed foods overall in Britain, the rise of own-brands was a major threat
0:11:10 > 0:11:14but the cereal sector was interestingly resistant
0:11:14 > 0:11:18to own brands, they didn't really encroach on the market very much.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Unlike other food sectors where own-label has taken
0:11:20 > 0:11:28nearly half of the market, branded cereals have held onto an 80% share.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32So why do people choose branded cereals?
0:11:32 > 0:11:33Good question.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36I think they trust, first of all, advertising.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41They trust what you tell them and what you tell them is true.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44- Nice save, Pat. - Thanks, Tony, like to try your luck?
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Why, sure, Pat...
0:11:46 > 0:11:52The supreme advantage branded cereals have over own-brand is we all grew up with them.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56They're among the first foods we engage with emotionally as children.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01What a goal!
0:12:01 > 0:12:08And the bonds we make in childhood are the hardest to break.
0:12:08 > 0:12:15This is the trump card that has allowed the cereal superbrands to see off the own-label challenge.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28We live in a consumer-driven age
0:12:28 > 0:12:32where no stone is left unturned in the pursuit of sales,
0:12:32 > 0:12:39be it through advertising or more subtle forms of marketing like product placement and sponsorship.
0:12:39 > 0:12:46Once upon a time, stealthy methods of attracting customers were unknown on our shores.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49When Kellogg's brought breakfast cereals to the UK from America...
0:12:49 > 0:12:51They're gr-r-reat!
0:12:51 > 0:12:56..they not only brought their experience of advertising, but also other innovative tricks
0:12:56 > 0:13:01that would introduce us to the modern world of consumerism that we all inhabit today.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Take for example, the free gift in every box.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12It's a real working model of the world's first atomic-powered sub which dives and surfaces in...
0:13:12 > 0:13:16The one I remember, particularly, because I was still at school were the toy submarines.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19I remember playing with those with my brother and see who could win
0:13:19 > 0:13:21going to the bottom and getting to the top again.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29The strategy was so successful for Kellogg's that the giveaways became evermore ambitious.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33..70 Burns electric guitars to be won, each worth 80 guineas.
0:13:33 > 0:13:40From the end of the Second World War to 1970, UK cereal sales tripled.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43The things that we put in the packs, the back-panel promotions,
0:13:43 > 0:13:49was really all part of building a relationship, a more detailed relationship with the consumer.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54That's the first prize in Kellogg's Woman Dream House competition.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00Today, countless strategies are employed in business to boost sales.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04One of the most commonly used is sponsorship.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Sponsorship works where products are associated with someone or something
0:14:07 > 0:14:10that benefits the image of the brand.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12This is particularly common in the sporting world.
0:14:12 > 0:14:19Here, cyclist Victoria Pendleton is sponsored by PepsiCo's energy drink, Gatorade.
0:14:19 > 0:14:27She's an Olympic champion, so by proxy, it is hoped that the drink will be seen as a winning brand.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31The strategy of product placement is also highly effective for big business.
0:14:31 > 0:14:38It's been used by home-grown bottled water company Highland Spring to enhance the image of the brand.
0:14:40 > 0:14:47The worlds of British fashion, British motorcar racing and British snooker have all been targeted.
0:14:47 > 0:14:53But Highland Spring's most effective example of product placement was orchestrated
0:14:53 > 0:14:56by former Formula One racing car driver Sir Jackie Stewart.
0:14:56 > 0:15:03The Scotsman was travelling on Britain's flagship airline, BA, when he was offered Evian mineral water.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08I was travelling in a BA plane and I got a foreign mineral water.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12I thought that it should have been a British mineral water.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15I got off the plane and I phoned Lord King
0:15:15 > 0:15:17who was at that time chairman and CEO
0:15:17 > 0:15:20and I said "Why are we drinking foreign water?
0:15:20 > 0:15:22"You should have a British one."
0:15:22 > 0:15:26And he said "Let me talk to somebody about it and I'll call you back."
0:15:26 > 0:15:30I don't think it took him too long to convince British Airways
0:15:30 > 0:15:32that it would be much more fitting
0:15:32 > 0:15:35for a quintessentially British brand
0:15:35 > 0:15:39to have a quintessentially British brand bottled water alongside.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46In the slipstream of the world's favourite airline,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Highland Spring became a major player in the rapidly-growing bottled water industry.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56It sat proudly next to the industry leaders Evian, Volvic and Vittel.
0:15:58 > 0:16:05For all modern business, embracing new strategies and marketing is essential for survival and growth.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Where industry looks beyond the obvious lure
0:16:07 > 0:16:13of straightforward advertising, the opportunity to connect emotionally with consumers is huge.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26The importance of advertising is seldom underestimated in the food business,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28but the role of packaging
0:16:28 > 0:16:32rarely gets the credit that it deserves.
0:16:32 > 0:16:39Packaging can be used to unlock new markets, strengthen marketing messages and add value to products.
0:16:40 > 0:16:47It begins with convenience, but the role of packaging is far more sophisticated than just that.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51The bottled water industry arguably owes its huge growth to the bottles
0:16:51 > 0:16:59and the success of the yoghurt sector in the UK is also down in part to the pots.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04The pots are crucial because these small, little packages give you
0:17:04 > 0:17:06the idea that you can help yourself
0:17:06 > 0:17:10any time, it's incredibly convenient
0:17:10 > 0:17:13and you can sort of eat in an individual way on the move, whatever.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Right from the start, yoghurt is something that you give
0:17:17 > 0:17:23to an individual, it's your complete little pudding that you can have, just one person, one portion.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27Clever packaging lies behind one of the biggest success stories
0:17:27 > 0:17:33in dairy history, the twin pot from German dairy giant Muller.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37In 1986, armed with their twin-pot Fruit Corner,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41the company secretly approached a British dairy businessman.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46The then managing director came over with this Fruit Corner
0:17:46 > 0:17:51in his suitcase, not even chilled, but in his suitcase,
0:17:51 > 0:17:52and he thrust it at me
0:17:52 > 0:17:54and he said "What do you think of that?"
0:17:54 > 0:17:56And it was absolutely fantastic.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59It was like nothing I'd ever tasted.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03One pot good, two pots better.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07Ken Wood thought that the product and its packaging were so innovative
0:18:07 > 0:18:11that he was prepared to take a risk.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14It would prove to be a textbook case in how to expand a market
0:18:14 > 0:18:18and would leave the home-grown companies in tatters.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24While Ken Wood began preparations for Muller's UK launch, the competition
0:18:24 > 0:18:29had sniffed around, but decided the product had one fatal flaw, the price.
0:18:29 > 0:18:37I went to Germany and we were actually taken round the Muller factory and shown
0:18:37 > 0:18:41the twin pot being produced
0:18:41 > 0:18:44and I rushed back to the UK
0:18:44 > 0:18:48saying I've seen this really, really exciting product
0:18:48 > 0:18:53and we took it out to market research
0:18:53 > 0:18:56and the response from customers was twofold.
0:18:56 > 0:19:03Some of them loved it, but when we then showed consumers the price at which it would need to be retailed,
0:19:03 > 0:19:09most of them held up their hands and said "Look, really, that is too expensive."
0:19:09 > 0:19:11So we did nothing.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18At the time, a pot of Shape cost 22p while the Muller Fruit Corner
0:19:18 > 0:19:25was to retail at 35p, over 50% more expensive.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30There was only one thing that could justify this difference, the price of luxury.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33It was undoubtedly a risk for Muller
0:19:33 > 0:19:37to come in at a significantly higher price point
0:19:37 > 0:19:39but there were extra costs involved
0:19:39 > 0:19:45and the success of brands is to price at the point you think consumers will value
0:19:45 > 0:19:48what you're offering and a premium price can be justified
0:19:48 > 0:19:52if there is an added benefit to consumers and in this case,
0:19:52 > 0:19:58they added theatre to the experience of eating a yoghurt in a way that hadn't been seen before.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Muller Fruit Corner is of course a masterpiece.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Part of the appeal of yoghurt had always been these little individual pots,
0:20:05 > 0:20:13but Muller, by adding that corner of something jammy in the corner had taken it a stage further.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18Muller were packaging it as something that was an outright treat and it really just opened up
0:20:18 > 0:20:20the market to a whole lot of consumers
0:20:20 > 0:20:24who wouldn't otherwise have seen themselves as yoghurt eaters.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27The Muller Fruit Corner so appealed to Britain's taste buds
0:20:27 > 0:20:32that within four years it was the biggest-selling yoghurt in the UK.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Keep your body at its peak.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40In the 1990s, new packaging revolutionised the bottled water industry
0:20:40 > 0:20:44by getting the product out of glass bottles and off restaurant tables.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49In an age of instant gratification, still bottled water
0:20:49 > 0:20:53provided what people wanted exactly when they wanted it.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58People, in general, are more and more time-pressed.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00We don't cook our own meals any more.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04We eat prepared foods of all kinds and there's nothing more appealing
0:21:04 > 0:21:07than a bottle of cold water at a moment when you're really thirsty.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Cold water is, in fact, deeply satisfying when you're thirsty,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14but I think bottled water is one of those products
0:21:14 > 0:21:18that on many occasions when people buy it, what they're buying
0:21:18 > 0:21:24isn't the water so much as the bottle, that is the package and the convenience at that moment.
0:21:24 > 0:21:32And when we bought this convenience, what we were really buying was PET for polyethyle terephthalate,
0:21:32 > 0:21:38the single most important innovation in the industry's history, strong, shatterproof
0:21:38 > 0:21:44and a highly-valued form of polyester, PET is a by-product of the oil industry.
0:21:44 > 0:21:51It is now utilised in the packaging of everything, from pharmaceuticals and soap to ready meals.
0:21:51 > 0:21:57In years to come, the environmental impact of PET would haunt the industry and raise questions
0:21:57 > 0:22:02about its very survival, but in the 1990s, this was a revolution.
0:22:02 > 0:22:09Starting with the introduction of the PET waters, the category started to explode.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12The bottled water industry before PET
0:22:12 > 0:22:17was essentially on the list of all beverage categories was number seven.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21With the advent of PET, bottled water jumped from the number seven
0:22:21 > 0:22:25to the number two spot, behind carbonated soft drinks.
0:22:25 > 0:22:33It started to grow into the two billion, three billion range every year, phenomenally high growth rates.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37Without this revolutionary bottling material, none of this growth
0:22:37 > 0:22:42could have been achieved. Across business, packaging's role in unlocking new markets
0:22:42 > 0:22:47and building on existing success is not to be underestimated.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59After decades of unhindered growth in the food industry,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02the late 20th and early 21st centuries
0:23:02 > 0:23:06brought a step change in the way the large multinationals operate.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Today, corporate social responsibility and business ethics
0:23:09 > 0:23:13are at the top of every agenda in every boardroom.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21The increasing global awareness of the western consumer has led to huge questions
0:23:21 > 0:23:23about the power of branding,
0:23:23 > 0:23:28the power of multinationals and the power of the globalised market itself.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32In this new environment, the traditional money-making model
0:23:32 > 0:23:37enjoyed by so much of big business for so long has disappeared.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42There are now other considerations beyond responsibility to shareholders.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49In few places is this more acute than in the food business.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Whether selling cereals, yoghurt or water, the future of this
0:23:53 > 0:23:59industry depends on its ability to adapt in this new environment
0:23:59 > 0:24:04and no sector finds itself in the dock as often as the bottled water industry.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Bottled water is the most revealing substance for showing us
0:24:12 > 0:24:16how the global, capitalist market works today.
0:24:17 > 0:24:24It tells us that we're no longer buying things for their use value,
0:24:24 > 0:24:30that in a sense, we're buying choice, we're buying freedom,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34we're buying all kinds of insubstantial things.
0:24:34 > 0:24:40For some of us, choice and freedom is worth the price we pay, but for others,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44it represents the excess, and inequality of the modern world,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49a world where nearly a billion people have no access to clean water at all.
0:24:50 > 0:24:57One thing we cannot lose sight of is the ultimate absurdity of the bottled water industry.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Here we have a world where people are dying of thirst,
0:25:01 > 0:25:07where people lack clean water to feed their children...
0:25:09 > 0:25:14..and we're spending billions of dollars and huge amounts of energy, moving water
0:25:14 > 0:25:19from people who already have it to other people who already have it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:28Recognising this inequality was a small group of businessmen who saw an opportunity.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31If they could create a completely new brand of bottled water,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34they could subvert the industry from the inside.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39This they did with a brand they called One Water.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44Its success was to have a major influence on the industry as a whole.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47The bottled water market in the UK is incredibly ingested.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50There are some really big brand leaders out there,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52the Nestles, the Danones of this world.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57But from our perspective I didn't look at them as competitors.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01They don't sit in the same area that we do.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04I just wanted to go out and take a small percentage share
0:26:04 > 0:26:07of a bigger market that they happen to be sitting in as well.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Where one water differed from other brands
0:26:12 > 0:26:18was in its simple proposition, there were to be no shareholders and no dividends, but instead,
0:26:18 > 0:26:23100% of their profits would go directly to African water projects.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26We can't necessarily affect an industry,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29but we're trying very hard, but perhaps, what we can do,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33is repurpose some of the outcome of that industry for a better cause.
0:26:37 > 0:26:45What the One Water brand was tapping into was a concept they called positive brand choice.
0:26:47 > 0:26:54Positive brand choice is something, I think, that consumers have a real appetite for now.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56We're trying to tell them
0:26:56 > 0:26:59that by choosing our bottle of water
0:26:59 > 0:27:02they could personally be responsible
0:27:02 > 0:27:06for bringing water to ten African school kids for a day,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10and I think that's a really, really powerful proposition.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19The consumers' positive brand choice was then turned directly into water projects for Africa.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24The idea of play pumps came from something I read
0:27:24 > 0:27:27in one of the national newspapers
0:27:27 > 0:27:30which celebrated this amazing invention,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34a pump powered by children's play that could pump water industrially
0:27:34 > 0:27:39into tanks and provide enough water for a whole community and I thought that was ingenious.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48The play pumps gave the consumers of One Water a reason for their
0:27:48 > 0:27:53positive brand choice, but they also benefited the major retailers.
0:27:53 > 0:28:00Our proposition in a business sense provides British retailers with brilliant corporate social
0:28:00 > 0:28:02responsibility stories,
0:28:02 > 0:28:07but it doesn't cost them anything because all I am asking them to do is to take
0:28:07 > 0:28:09our range of One products for the same price
0:28:09 > 0:28:13that they would have bought those products from other suppliers.
0:28:15 > 0:28:21With the help of major retailers, One Water has now provided clean water
0:28:21 > 0:28:23to over 1.4 million people,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26but they have also influenced the wider industry.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Similar programmes have been adopted by many of the major brands
0:28:29 > 0:28:35with projects with similar models and others addressing the industry's environmental impact.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42The future success of industry will be measured as much
0:28:42 > 0:28:46by how globally responsible it is as by how much profit it generates.
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