Back in June 2021, our alumnus Sendin Arnautovic reached out to us with the proposal to partner up with his employer – Bluewater Group for the sales of sustainable water bottles. Originally these reusable, lifetime warranty, water bottles were part of AAU’s efforts to create a more ‘green’ line of merchandise. Who would have thought this bottle-based partnership would create so much more than cool merchandise? 

Jump forward to 2022, and our AAU business students were flown to Sweden to present their course projects to the Bluewater Group CEO in Stockholm!

The Applied Education Project at AAU connected Bluewater with AAU’s Marketing Communications class, and gave students the opportunity to work on a real-life project, whilst using the knowledge they gained in class. 

From discussions in Prague…

Professor Joel Imhoof, who led the project, talks about it in more detail:

Last semester in MKT202 Marketing Communications our students had the privilege of working with the Swedish home water purification firm, Bluewater Group. Among other activities, the students were tasked with examining the competitive environment, assessing and redefining demographic targeting plans, and creating research-based suggestions for new methods of promotion and communication. In the end, students created dynamite competitor analyses and followed those up with creative briefs outlining two new campaign elements that they themselves created for Bluewater. These included video advertisements, full page magazine ads, integrated Facebook and Instagram campaigns and optimization of the firm’s social media interface

…to presenting in Sweden!

My students were pushed hard and in the end they created fantastic professional level work. I couldn’t be more proud of every one of them! This kind of project is definitely more work for the lecturer and the students; it incorporates complex communication and brings additional levels of responsibility and ambiguity. Yet I believe students saw value in working towards a goal of creating a set of real life solutions for an actual firm. And for a select few it paid off with something beyond earning an ‘A’- the winning group was flown to Sweden to make their presentation in front of the CEO of Bluewater!

And it’s not over yet! There’s more to come – just watch this space…


Bluewater is the Swedish company changing the way the world views water, by delivering the healthiest fresh drinking water around the world and helping to eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles. It is headquartered in its hometown of Stockholm, with regional offices across four continents.

Applied Education Projects connect companies to AAU and facilitate an experiential, real-life experience for students through assignments, or research projects. The company sets the topic and timeframe for the project, as well as the expected outcomes. In cases such as the one with Buewater, faculty can incorporate those assignments into their class syllabus. In addition to providing companies with research data and innovative solutions, the project also provides valuable insights into potential employee talents.