PepsiCo will launch LIFEWTR, its new, premium-priced bottled water, during a 30-second ad at Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5.
A purified water that is pH balanced with electrolytes, the brand will start appearing on retail shelves across the U.S. in February 2017. According to the Wall Street Journal, PepsiCo (PEP) will also feature Pepsi Zero Sugar, a zero-calorie soda, on screen during the Super Bowl’s half-time show.
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PepsiCo’s LIFEWTR brand plays to growing consumer interest in healthier beverages. Since 2004, bottled water volume has more than doubled from 1.8 billion cases to almost 4 billion last year, industry observer Beverage Digest reports. Over that same period, carbonated soft drinks have shed 1.5 billion cases of volume. Though soda sales still represent 55% of the total liquid refreshment beverages market, PepsiCo and peers like Coca-Cola can see the writing on the wall.
“We are starting to see water play a greater role in the repertoire of a consumer’s beverage consumption,” Brad Jakeman, president of PepsiCo’s Global Beverage Group, told Fortune last December. “I think we are seeing a secular and irreversible trend toward healthier beverages.”
Coke hasn’t announced its Super Bowl plans yet, but a company spokesman told the WSJ that it isn’t planning ads for either Dasani or Smartwater, its two bottled-water brands.
