Narberth-based Princes Gate Spring Water is benefiting from a major rebrand thanks to the help of a graduate scheme to provide marketing knowledge and expertise.

They have repositioned their brand to be more successful in the extremely competitive UK bottled water market, and found a savvy marketer in the process to add to their management team.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is one of the UK's leading programmes that help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills, with companies expected to only contribute about a third of the costs involved in the government-financed initiative.

For Princes Gate Spring Water, this involved taking on graduate employee Nicola Merriman as a full-time KTP associate. Nicola was jointly supervised by their sales manager, Rachel Evans, and Mike Thomas - a senior lecturer in management and business at Pembrokeshire College. The project was overseen by KTP Adviser for West Wales, Dr Ted Jones.

The primary aim of the project was to develop the branding and marketing of Princes Gate Spring Water to make it more appealing to the retail market - a key distribution channel for any serious brand of water. Former research had indicated a need to modernise the brand to appeal to the primary target for bottled water.

“As luck would have it, the match of graduate to company was incredibly suited,” said senior lecturer Mike Thomas.

“Nicola is a masters graduate from University College Dublin who before moving to the area to set up home with her husband, Paul, managed Coca Cola’s water portfolio in Ireland.

Since the launch of the revised branding at Princes Gate Spring Water two-years ago, when it underwent a complete overhaul, there has been some phenomenal work from all of the management at Princes Gate Spring Water. The portfolio now boasts listings in key retail outlets - including Asda, Sainsbury’s and the Co-operative. Sales management are also currently in talks with the UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco.

Commenting about the KTP scheme, David Jones, MD of Princes Gate Spring Water said: “It has been an incredibly busy time for the business and marked a steep change for the brand.

“Nicola has been a great addition to the team that has worked very hard towards accomplishing the ambitious goals we set.

“Credit also goes to Pembrokeshire College - and principal Glyn Jones in particular - for instigating the programme which has benefited us greatly.

To find out more about how Knowledge Transfer Partnerships can provide resources and expertise to make Pembrokeshire organisations thrive, call Nicki Howells, Pembrokeshire College's Income Generation Manager on 01437 753 414.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Princes Gate Spring Water contact Nicola Merriman on 01834 831225

nicola@princesgatespringwater.com

www.princesgatespringwater.com

KTP information

Nicky Howells on 01437 753 414

n.howells@pembrokeshire.ac.uk

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

KTP Adviser for West Wales

Dr Ted Jones on 01974 831429

ted@caron.demon.co.uk

www.ktponline.org.uk

Big splash: Nicola Merriman, marketing manager with company MD David Jones and KTP senior academic, Mike Thomas, of Pembrokeshire College.

New look: The Princes Gate Spring Water brand has been completely transformed by Nicola Merriman to successfully compete in the retail market.