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In 1999, Coca-Cola launched Dasani bottled water to compete with the growing trend of people buying water in plastic bottles.
The company positioned Dasani as both pure and accessible.
In 1999, Coca-Cola launched Dasani bottled water to compete with established brands like Perrier and Evian.
While Perrier's green glass bottles had dominated upscale restaurants since the 1980s, and Evian marketed its water as sourced from French Alpine springs.
Coca-Cola positioned Dasani as a premium cheaper product for everyday people.
PepsiCo had already entered the bottled water market in 1994 with Aquafina.
Coca-Cola watched as bottled water became sort of a lifestyle product, with consumers paying premium prices for portable hydration.
Where once people filled glasses from the tap, they now carried branded bottles to work, to the gym, and to social gatherings.
Coca-Cola designed Dasani to bridge the gap between luxury water brands and basic hydration.
The timing aligned with growing awareness of health and wellness, as people began replacing sugary drinks with water.
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Coca-Cola needed a name for their bottled water that would work worldwide.
They looked to Sanskrit, searching for words that meant "pure" and found "dadhi."
Their first choice was "Pure Life," which directly told customers they were getting clean water.
But another company already owned the trademark.
So they created "Dasani," adapting the Sanskrit word "dadhi."
The new name kept the connection to purity while being easy to say and remember across different languages.
Bottled water exploded in popularity in the 1990s.
While some companies tapped mountain springs or underground wells, Dasani filtered ordinary tap water.
Dasani's process took city water, filtered it extensively, and sold it at premium prices.
Their filtration removed bacteria, chemicals, and minerals.
This created a pure and tasteless water.
To fix this flatness, Dasani added back specific minerals.
PepsiCo's Aquafina followed similar steps by taking municipal water, striping it clean, then adjusting its mineral content before bottling.
The American perception of bottled water, largely shaped by brands touting pristine mountain springs or exotic underground sources, was turned on its head by Dasani’s launch.
Many Americans at the time thought (and still do) — should they pay a premium for a product that flowed freely from their faucets?
However, Dasani’s launch was a success, people bought into what others thought was a grift.
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With a successful launch in the US, Coca-Cola launched its Dasani water brand in the UK market in 2003.
Dasani had captured 24% of the bottled water market in the US—could they replicate this across the pond?
Coca-Cola also marketed Dasani as "purified water enhanced with minerals," but this message backfired.
British consumers learned that Dasani started as tap water from Sidcup, Kent.
The British press seized on this detail, with headlines comparing Dasani to Del Boy's "Peckham Spring Water" — a reference to a TV show where a character bottled tap water for profit.
It was a PR disaster for The Coca-Cola Company.
The situation worsened in March 2004 when testing revealed bromate in Dasani bottles.
Bromate, a chemical that can form during water purification, exceeds UK safety limits at concentrations above 10 parts per billion.
Coca-Cola had to recall 500,000 bottles.
The company withdrew Dasani from the UK market after just five weeks, abandoning its £7 million investment in the launch.
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Coca-Cola's hardest challenge was convincing consumers to pay premium prices for filtered tap water.
Coca-Cola invested heavily in visual advertising.
Their TV commercials featured ultra-slow-motion water drops splashing against black backgrounds, while speakers pumped out the crisp sound of water breaking surface tension.
These ads aimed to transform ordinary water into a luxury experience.
The company also tried building emotional connections through their "drops of life" campaign.
Commercials showed athletes, parents, and professionals reaching for Dasani during key moments—scoring a goal, comforting a child, or closing a deal.
But many consumers saw through the gimmick.
Environmental groups pointed out that Dasani was selling people their own water back to them at a massive markup.
Dasani's water droplet logo combines a natural shape—the teardrop—with smooth, polished edges that suggest modern manufacturing.
Dasani was successful in linking their bottled water to the natural sources we trust.
Dasani's logo tapped into this history while adding crisp, clean lines that match today's design trends.
The droplet's surface catched light and created highlights, much like real water does.
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