From the “center of the Earth” to the roof of the world, bottled water marketers will go anywhere and everywhere to get the drop on their competition. These 10 exotic bottled waters cater to the One Percent while offering the rest of us an expensive splash of liquid luxury.
Perrier
With its plastic bottles, fruity flavors and an established presence in supermarkets thanks to multinational corporate owner Nestle, Perrier doesn’t exude the aura of chic status it once boasted. History dictates the brand be mentioned, however, as a series of brilliant ad campaigns successfully established “the Champagne of mineral water” and blazed a trail for other brands to follow.
One of the most famous Perrier ad campaigns extolled the purity and refinement of the Source Perrier spring in southern France. “Naturally sparkling from the center of the Earth” was somewhat misleading, however, as the actual manufacturing process involves capturing water and gas from the Vergèze spring separately and only recombining them during the bottling process.
Berg Water
Established in 2005 by Canada-based 2001 Investments Ltd., Berg Water is, well, water from a berg… and iceberg, that is. The theory is that water frozen into the glaciers of western Greenland 15,000 years ago is free from man-made pollutants… we assume natural pollutants such as volcanic ash and meteor dust are included at no extra charge. Berg comes in frosted glass bottles and smaller, green-tinted PET plastic bottles.
Tibet Spring
Sourced from a glacier 5,100 feet above sea level in the remote Himalaya mountains, Tibet Spring Water brings the cool, clean taste of “the roof of the world” to the roof of your mouth. Produced and marketed by Tibet 5100 Water Resources Holdings Ltd., Tibet Spring Water was founded in 2006 and although it’s a relative newcomer to the scene, it’s already reached the summit of luxury bottled water sales in China.
Tibet Spring Water has been cleverly marketed by Tibet 5100 – free bottles are given out on China Railway Express Co. passenger trains and each delegate to China’s official parliamentary and Party congresses will find an individual bottle prominently placed for them to enjoy.
DMZ 2KM Water
Yes, that DMZ – the Demilitarized Zone separating North Korea and South Korea. Being both demilitarized and depopulated, the DMZ has evolved over the past half-century into a lush wilderness rich in wildlife and devoid of polluting human enterprises. Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co of South Korea is banking on people’s impression of the cleaner, greener DMZ as a way to sell otherwise unremarkable bottled water sourced from an underground spring beneath the 2.5 mile (4km) wide strip. “Getting the water is not dangerous at all,” states company spokesman Lee Sang-hyo. “We worked it all out with the military.” His or theirs?
Hello Kitty Fillico Jewelry Water
Produced to help commemorate Hello Kitty’s 35th anniversary in 2010, Hello Kitty Fillico Jewelry Water was a co-promotion between Japanese character company Sanrio and luxury goods marketer Fillico. Priced at roughly $122 each (plus $24.50 to have your name engraved on the bottle), this shameless marketing ploy was made even more gratuitous when Sanrio-Fillico offered 5 different colored bottles – collect ’em all!
What’s inside Hello Kitty Fillico Jewelry Water isn’t anything special because buyers didn’t buy it for the water. The bottles themselves were the attraction, being blinged up with real Swarovski crystals in Red (friendship), Pink (cute), Yellow (heartful), Green (wish) and Lavender (sweet).
