Bottled Water Advertising

Bottled Water Advertising

The success of the bottled water industry has always been consumer-driven.

Claims are sometimes made that bottled water sales are fueled by expensive marketing and misinformation. The truth is people realize that bottled water is a safe, healthy, and convenient product, and that is what motivates their purchases.

The success of the bottled water industry has always been consumer-driven and simply cannot be attributed to costly advertising and marketing campaigns. In fact, bottled water’s advertising expenditures are in line with those of other packaged beverages.

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 $203 million in 2019. That figure reflects similar ad spends from the milk industry and far less than what the carbonated soft drinks industry spends on advertising.

Compare bottled water’s advertising expenditures to these beverages:

  • Beer   $1.6 billion
  • Carbonated Soft Drinks   $799 million
  • Fruit Beverages   $162 million
  • Coffee   $124 million
  • Sports Drinks   $148 million
  • Milk   $202 million
  • Energy Drinks   $127 million

*2019 figures