When Jim Karrh (Beta Zeta - Florida ’81) began his job as Chief Marketing Officer of Mountain Valley Spring Company, he heard a range of professional reactions.
“The head of a market-research firm said I really had my work cut out for me, given all the competition in the bottled-water industry,” Jim recalls. “Our company’s CFO, on the other hand, said I must feel lucky to have such a ‘perfect storm’ type of marketing opportunity. To a degree, they’re probably both right.”
The company’s flagship Mountain Valley Spring Water, bottled from a single source near Hot Springs, Ark., is the oldest and most distinguished brand of American bottled water. It is sold in 36 states through a network of nearly 200 independent distributors.
In April 2004, Clear Mountain purchased the assets of Mountain Valley from Sammons Corporation of Dallas. Jim had worked with Clear Mountain as a consultant and was offered the opportunity to join the new company’s management group. “Most of the company’s stock is held within the management team, so everyone is committed to our growth,” Jim says.
That growth won’t come automatically, even though the category of bottled water is growing in the U.S. at nearly ten percent annually. “Mountain Valley’s recent history shows the importance of having a strategic focus,” Jim says. “The previous owners based their hopes for growth on pushing Mountain Valley onto grocery and convenience-store shelves. That’s a price-and cost-driven channel, and Mountain Valley is a premium, higher-cost brand. It was a mismatch, and both sales and profits suffered. Our success will come from avoiding the giants—Nestlé, Coke, Pepsi—while re-establishing Mountain Valley as the premium domestic water brand.”
His education helped Jim to both get his career started and later change it dramatically. Jim went to the University of Florida from his hometown of Swainsboro, Ga., as a freshman in 1980. (“The university was four times the size of my hometown,” Jim recalls. “These days, it’s probably seven or eight times larger.”) He immediately entered rush and quickly found the environment and principles of the Order appealing. During his time as an active member of Beta Zeta Chapter, Jim served as both IV and III.
“As I told our distributors during the annual meeting, I believe Mountain Valley’s brand is based upon three tenets. The first is quality; Mountain Valley is bottled at our protected spring site under tight standards, and the water frequently wins international taste awards. The second is heritage. Mountain Valley has existed as a brand since 1871, and over the years has been enjoyed by the likes of Elvis Presley and thirteen U.S. Presidents. Finally, we have Americana. Our headquarters is a National Register building located within the America’s first national park. Many consumers prefer an American brand, particularly when the alternatives include French imports. Taken together, we have a brand which has been neglected but can be made very distinctive and powerful again. That’s the ‘perfect storm’ window of opportunity that we have. My role is to orchestrate the ways our company addresses the opportunity.”
“I consider the Order and the Mountain Valley brand to have several important elements in common. Both have great heritage and interesting stories—and both are as relevant today as they were in the mid-1800s.”
