There was a time when it was believed that a commodity could not be branded.  In fact, in the world of branding, the term “to be commoditized” was often taken to mean that a product has become so common place that it had no distinguishing features that made it “brandable” and therefore enjoy the brand loyalty and price premium associated with a good brand. 

In short, once a product is deemed “commoditized” it was taken to mean that the product was doomed as a brand and can be consigned to fighting for market share purely on the basis of price. That was how it was for commodities until Evian water turned the world of commodity branding on its head.  

Legend has it that the Marquis of Lessert drank water from the Sainte Catherine spring on the land of a Mr Cachat during a walk in 1789. The marquis, who was allegedly suffering from kidney and liver problems, drank regularly of the water while he walked, and claimed that his health improved.

Encouraged by Lessert's advocacy of the 'miraculous' water, local doctors began to prescribe it as a health remedy. In response to the growing success of the water, Mr Cachat fenced off his spring and began selling the water.

In 1826, the Duke of Savoy gave his permission to start bottling water from the spring. The business later became a public company known as the "Société anonyme des eaux minérales de Cachat" in 1859. 

When Savoy was incorporated into France under the Treaty of Turin in 1860, the French Ministry of Health reauthorized the bottling of Cachat water on the recommendation of the Medicine academy.

In 1908, Evian water began to be sold in glass bottles manufactured by the glass factory Souchon-Neuvesel.

Suffice it to say that Evian first entered the U.S. market in 1978 where it was served in high-end restaurants, lounges, and hotels in New York City and throughout Hollywood. In addition to mineral water, Danone Group which now owns the brand uses the Evian brand for a line of organic skin care products as well as a resort in France.

In popular culture, Evian is portrayed as a high-end and pricey bottled water, making it popular among Hollywood celebrities. David LaChapelle photographed an Evian campaign juxtaposing a supermodel next to an Evian fountain formed from a Greek statue.

Over in the United States, another commodity was also waking up to the benefits of branding. Morton Salt is a United States company producing salt for food, water conditioning, industrial, agricultural, and road/highway use. Based in Chicago, the business is North America's leading producer and marketer of salt. The company began in Chicago, Illinois in 1848 as a small sales agency. In 1910, the business, which had by that time become both a manufacturer and a merchant of salt, was incorporated as the Morton Salt Company.  Today, the Acquired in 1954, the company's main facility, the second-largest solar saline operation in North America, is in Matthew Town, Inagua, The Bahamas.
 
Morton Salt's hand-drawn logo features the "Morton Salt Girl," a young girl walking in the rain with an opened umbrella and scattering salt behind her from a cylindrical container of table salt, and is one of the ten best-known symbols in the United States.  The company's logo (from 1914), and its motto, "When it rains, it pours" (from 1911), were developed to illustrate the point that Morton Salt was free flowing, even in rainy weather. Originally, the company had added magnesium carbonate as an absorbing agent to ensure that its table salt poured freely; calcium silicate is now used instead for the same purpose. The "Umbrella Girl" has gone through six different iterations within advertising campaigns; the company sells associated memorabilia and makes some of its vintage advertisements freely available.

The Malaysian palm oil industry recently announced that it wants the world to recognise that palm oil from Malaysia represents sturdy features such as quality, sustainable practices, speed of delivery, and research and development. And this will be supported by a brand name – Malaysia Palm.

Says MPOC chairman Datuk Lee Yeow Chor: “The council aims to develop the branding and image of Malaysian palm oil as a strategy to differentiate the oil from other commodities in the global edible oils and fats market.”

“We will emphasise the good quality backed by R&D and the fulfilment of sustainability criteria. We will be using publicity material to link Malaysia-produced palm oil to these positive attributes,” he adds.

The Malaysia Palm plan is among the marketing and promotional measures that the MPOC will undertake in the coming months to boost Malaysian palm oil’s market expansion.

On the issue of alleged deforestation, Lee says: “We believe there is a lot of misinformation out there about palm oil, which has not been corrected effectively. We believe palm oil has a credible story to tell. Whatever lobbying that will be done will be fact-based and well-researched, using various channels effectively.”
Lee points out, “You’d be surprised that a lot of the NGOs have not seen what’s happening here. They make a lot of allegations against palm oil, and a lot of it is hearsay.”

The idea is to commission more market-oriented studies on nutrition, science and the environment that are more accessible and easier to digest.

Lee acknowledges that it likely that some of the smaller plantation players and smallholders do not employ sustainable practices when clearing land and cultivating oil palm.

He argues, “In this kind of agricultural industry involving so many players, there are bound to be some black sheep. But we should not discredit the whole industry when the majority observes good agricultural practices.”

In the view of Deforestation Watch, it is perhaps inevitable that Malaysian palm oil would embark on this path to build and determine its own brand rather than to have environmental NGO’s who have little first hand knowledge of actual local planting conditions determine it for them! THE END