Sarah Kauss, Founder

For those who do not know about S’well (are there any such people left?) –  S’well sells re-usable and very chic water bottles, that became ‘de-rigeur’, shortly after Sarah Kauss started selling the now iconic 17oz, insulated bottles in 2010.

And how that happened is, of course, a story that interests us students of Brand Elevation*. Here is a brand that transform what should be a commodity –bottles – into an iconic fashion accessory at $40 a pop.  In fact, we can talk about S’well having kicked in gear a massive category elevation and value creation.  Reusable water bottles are estimated to have have generated over $8bn in worldwide sales in 2018 alone and still grow at a rate of 3-5% year-on-year.  It’s ‘guestimated’ that S’well has a $150 to 200 million dollar share in those sales.  But the privately owned company doesn’t share financials.  And today S’well is not only selling bottles but a broader portfolio of re-usable containers, as we will hear in the interview.

Sarah and I talk about the Why, What and How of creating the S’well brand and of  keeping it going and growing.  As we will discover, again, many of the ‘principles of Ueber-Branding’ are at work.

Click play below and  –  Enjoy!

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FURTHER READING:

* Brand Elevation is also the title of our latest book, a how-to guide to giving a brand meaning, making it peerless and priceless. Click here to order your copy now.

For deep insights into what drives the success of purpose-driven brands like S’well read our book “Rethinking Prestige Branding – Secrets of the Ueberbrands,” and other posts on this blog-cast.  ”

We recommend this fascinating account of “How Fancy Water Bottles Became An 21st Century Status Symbol” by Amanda Mull in The Atlantic.

Here is a link to the S’well website and some of the ‘About’ content we talk about in the interview.