Bottled Water Advertising

Claims are sometimes made that bottled water sales are fueled by expensive marketing and misinformation. The truth is far less exciting.

The success of the bottled water industry has always been consumer-driven and simply cannot be attributed to costly advertising and marketing campaigns. People realize that bottled water is a safe, healthy, and convenient product, and that is what motivates their purchases. In fact, bottled water companies spend relatively little on advertising and marketing.

The strength of consumer self-generated demand is illustrated by the relatively modest amount spent on bottled water advertising. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) and Kantar Media Intelligence, advertising expenditures for the entire bottled water industry totaled only $48 million in 2010.  That figure consistantly reflects one of the lowest spending levels in the beverage industry.

Compare bottled water's advertising expenditures to these beverages:

• Beer   $1 billion
• Ccarbonated Soft Drinks   $477 million
• Fruit Beverages   $361 million
• Milk   $152 million
• Energy Drinks   $132 million
• Coffee   $110 million

*2009 figures