Week 0️⃣ 7️⃣

Bottled water has grown into one of the largest parts of the global drinks industry. Once considered a free public resource, it is now packaged and sold on a vast scale by multinational corporations. The bottled water market was valued at over $300 billion in 2024, which is smaller than the carbonated soft drinks market by value, however, in the United States, bottled water outsells carbonated soft drinks in terms of volume.

What drives this growth is not the liquid itself but packaging, distribution and branding. The bottle, cap and label often cost more than the water inside, which in many cases comes from municipal supplies. Consumers pay up to two thousand times more than the price of tap water, while companies market recycled bottles and tethered caps as environmental responsibility.

In 1767 the English chemist Joseph Priestley discovered how to add carbon dioxide to water, creating the first artificial fizz. A few years later Johann Jacob Schweppe built a business around the process, founding one of the earliest soft drink companies. What began as an experiment in a brewery went on to inspire the entire soda industry. Today, the link to those origins is even visible in modern branding, with a craft label called Dr Priestley’s Fizzy Water paying tribute to the man who first put bubbles in a glass.

Some brands have succeeded by using disruptive imagery. Liquid Death, founded in 2017 by Mike Cessario, sold mountain water in beer-style cans with the slogan “Murder Your Thirst”. Its heavy-metal branding and viral stunts won attention in the United States, although the product failed to connect with British consumers. Monster took a different route with Tour Water, first given to musicians on the Vans Warped Tour. Launched publicly in 2023, it is sold in aluminium cans and presented as part of punk and rock culture rather than just hydration.

Other companies focus on heritage and national pride. Solán de Cabras, from Spain, is bottled in distinctive blue containers and marketed as a luxury lifestyle water, often linked to fashion and high-end dining. Vichy Catalan, also from Spain, has a salty taste due to its high mineral content and is valued for its digestive qualities. In Britain, Buxton trades on the history of St Ann’s Well in Derbyshire, while Highland Spring emphasises the purity of the Ochil Hills in Scotland and is now part of the Japanese Suntory group. Fiji Water is exported thousands of miles and at one point contributed around three per cent of Fiji’s GDP, showing how a local spring can become a global business.

There are also cautionary tales. In 2004 Coca-Cola launched Dasani in Britain, presenting it as pure and enhanced water. It was quickly revealed to be treated tap water from Sidcup, and soon after a contamination scare forced a recall. Within five weeks the brand was withdrawn. At the luxury end, Bling H2O takes spring water from Tennessee and sells it in frosted glass bottles decorated with Swarovski crystals. Prices can reach several hundred dollars per bottle, making it less about hydration and more about display. It demonstrates how branding and packaging can transform the simplest commodity into a symbol of wealth and exclusivity.