Water Water Everywhere

I was really excited to see how the Stanley use less bottled water project would turn out.

Stanley sold Bonnaroo limited edition aluminum water bottles, in an effort to lessen the impact of plastic bottles from the festival.

The aluminum bottles cost $22 and free water was provided for all concert goers.

Stanley made a modest effort to let people know about the program ahead of time, so they didn't bring dozens of plastic bottles. When I purchased my ticket, the aluminum bottle was an optional add on. After spending $285 for a ticket (including fee from Ticket Master), I wasn't in a $22 bottle buying mood.

One of the really cool things they did was to keep a tally of how many plastic bottles they were saving. With every aluminum bottle sold, this number inched up by 24.The assumed number of plastic bottles saved is based on 6 plastic bottles per person, per day-but I would say I had at least the equivalent of 8-10 plastic bottles a day, so big ups to Stanley and Spitfire for not gouging when others would have.

One of the things they did really well was staying on message. Through 3 satellite tents, and 4 branded water filling stations, Stanely and Spitfire were able to up their impressions dramatically, over other brands who had just one point of contact throughout the weekend.

Overall, it seems like the venture was a well intentioned step in the right direction. Based on the growing number to the right, they sold at least 5,000 or so. That's 5,000 limited edition conversation starters floating around the country in the hands of do-gooders everywhere. Now, if they could only remember to mention the aluminum bottles brand name...

There was some problem with the water from the stations being dirty, but I'm inclined to pin that on Bonnaroo infrastructure more than Stanley, but I think a negative association could have been made with Stanley and the dirty water fill stations.