KOR Water, the personal sustainable hydration company, and world-recognized strategy and industrial design consultancy RKS today announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance.
Businesses have long leveraged alliances with design consultancies in order to harness the power of design to propel their products and brands forward. In 1937, John Deere engaged Henry Dreyfuss and successfully increased their tractor sales at the height of the depression. The "Snow White" design language developed by Frog Design in 1980's is still evident in Apple designs today. Boeing and Teague, Herman Miller and Eames, Target and Graves... all these firms have formed alliances that helped elevate and differentiate their products and brands from the competition.
KOR Water sees design as much more than a mere differentiator. "Design has the power to inspire and motivate people to live healthier and to make positive changes that have a real effect on the health of our planet," said KOR Water president, Eric Barnes.
KOR Water first engaged RKS to develop the KOR ONE Personal Hydration Vessel. Declared "one of the sexiest industrial designs of the year," by Cool Hunting, the KOR ONE became an immediate hit with the blogsphere when it debuted in June of 2008. It was clear from this response, that, when it comes to their drinking water, people want to do the right thing - for their own health and for the health of the planet. They merely needed the proper motivation to take action. Design was that missing ingredient lacking in competitive offerings. "Design is in our DNA," said Barnes. Indeed, the three pillars of KOR Water are Design, Health, and Sustainability.
"We engaged in this long-term commitment with KOR Water because Eric's vision aligns with our own," explained Ravi Sawhney, founder and CEO of RKS. "Eric has the right sense of culture... a sense of ethics and responsibility to the world. This aligns with the RKS mission of creating designs that make consumers feel good about themselves every day of their lives."
"Over the months and years ahead, KOR will launch a series of products and services aimed at achieving personal sustainable hydration," Barnes explained. "KOR is a brand focused manically on personal sustainable hydration," said Barnes. This fits with what consumers seek today... what KOR calls "Better Me, Better World" products. "We couldn't be more delighted to be working with the world-class designers of RKS. The RKS objective to create designs and experiences that empower consumers meshes perfectly with our long-term plan to provide consumers products that improve their lives and create a better world for us all to share."
The KOR ONE Personal Hydration Vessel is now slated for release on October 1, 2008.