Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, The New York Times 24 Jul 09;
SINGAPORE — Steve Wasik demonstrates that he is on message with his company’s philosophy by always carrying one of its colorful — and reusable — aluminum bottles.
During a recent interview here, the one he drank from stated in bold pink letters, “Make Love not Landfill.”
When Mr. Wasik joined Sigg in 2005 as head of a newly set-up American subsidiary, the Swiss manufacturer had roughly $20 million in global sales and limited distribution outside Europe. Mr. Wasik, who became the company’s first foreign chief executive in 2008, has helped more than triple sales and expand its presence in the United States and Asia.
With his marketing background in the beverage and fashion industries, the 47-year-old executive repositioned Sigg by placing less emphasis on the water containers’ Swiss quality standards to promote them as an eco-chic accessory. He got lucky when the actress Julia Roberts told millions of Oprah Winfrey viewers last year “everybody just needs to get a Sigg,” providing the spontaneous type of word-of-mouth endorsement he could have only dreamed about.
Are Sigg bottles actually eco-friendly? Bob Lilienfeld, editor of Use-less-stuff.com, points out that reusable bottles are much less wasteful than disposable bottles, but metal water bottles are not necessarily better than reusable plastic ones. “The key for all reusable containers is to figure out how to ensure that people keep using them. You could argue that the Sigg bottles are very expensive, which might reduce purchase interest. But if the price ensures that people who do buy them remember to bring them home, refill and reuse them, it’s a positive.”
Sigg increased production by more than 90 percent last year to six million bottles, and although Mr. Wasik is cautious about the near-term future, he still expects production to increase to seven million this year. “Last year was out of control. The market was booming because of the huge green wave taking place and the BPA scare,” he said, referring to the claims made about the potential health risks of the chemical bisphenol-a in some hard, clear plastic bottles. “This year, we’ve suffered in the U.S. and Japan because of the economic situation.”
Sigg, owned by the U.S. private equity firm Riverside Group, does not release financial data, but Mr. Wasik said annual sales this year should grow 15 percent globally to between $60 million and $100 million.
The bottled-water industry in the United States has been on a phenomenal expansion, according to data from Beverage Marketing, a U.S.-based data and consulting firm, though the market dipped slightly last year. Retail sales of single-serving plastic bottles increased from 1.4 billion gallons in 2000 to 5.2 billion gallons last year, lifting their share of total bottled water volume from 29 percent to more than 60 percent.
With 45 percent of Sigg’s total sales now in the United States, Mr. Wasik sees further potential to expand there while also addressing the limited adoption of reusable bottles around the world. “I believe reusable bottles only represent less than 5 percent of the overall water bottle market in the U.S., and probably less than 1 percent around the world,” he said. “There are a lot of markets out there that haven’t been tapped. France is one example, where we still have a very small presence. Italy, Spain are still virgin markets.”
After getting a master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Mr. Wasik joined Cadbury Schweppes in 1991, working there for four years on marketing products like Mott’s Apple Juice and Clamato, as well as Schweppes soft drinks. Four years later, he became the general manager for North America at Naya Water. “I actually thought I was making a move in the right direction, from selling what is basically sugared water to teenagers to pure water,” he said, laughing.
In 1999, he joined Chanel as general manager of Bourjois USA, where he helped introduce the cosmetics brand in the United States, and was later promoted to general manager of Bourjois Europe.
Seeking to return to the United States, Mr. Wasik left Chanel in 2005 and shortly after joined Sigg. “It reminded me a lot of Naya, a small brand with a tremendous potential for growth,” he recalled.
Mr. Wasik sees himself as a brand architect, “somebody who can see pieces and construct a story that makes sense. What I’m good at is being able to look at the product, the competitive arena, and being able to figure out how best to develop and leverage a brand story.”
This year, Sigg launched a brand called SteelWorks that makes stainless steel thermoses and flasks in China. It already accounts for about 5 percent of the company’s total sales.
“Some customers still prefer stainless over aluminum,” Mr. Wasik said. “At the end of the day, steel is still a heck of a lot more ecological than disposable products. I’d love to sell only Sigg bottles, but if we can get people to use reusable bottles, we’re doing our job, because we’re getting them out of using disposable plastic.”
