When the decision was made to produce bottled water, nearly all of Narragansett’s executives were extremely confident that the venture would be highly profitable. This optimism was based on (1) projections showing the bottled water market was growing; (2) cost estimates implying that Narragansett could undersell its competitors by 10 percent; and (3)Narragansett’s ability to pick “winners” in the soft drink market. Unfortunately, there was a barrier to entry that few realized: businesses were not buying a product so much as a service, and the marketing strategies of mass advertising (newspaper, radio, etc.) and price discounts simply did not work.