With all that frenzied action, one can be excused for missing the big news of the day: tap water is finally cutting into the hides of the soft drinks and bottled water sectors.Grizzled cynics have scoffed at bottled water ever since Perrier made its beachhead here nearly three decades ago. Bottled water countered with an image campaign that earned it a reputation for cool. That PR effort grabbed ensuing dollars from youngsters and 20-somethings who wouldn’t dream off walking a mile or so in New York City without a bottle or two of H2O stuffed into their knapsacks. Times are changing. Filtered water bottles are now the rage.
PepsiCo dropped a bombshell Oct 14 with news that it is laying off 3,300 workers in six plants to deal with “continued weakness in the U.S. liquid refreshment beverage category, which resulted in a disappointing performance in our domestic beverage business,” according to corporate gobbly-gook from CEO Indra Nooyi. Industry analysts translated Nooyi’s statement, saying that consumers are turning to tap water from bottled and fizzy beverages at restaurants and in their homes because of cost and environmental concerns.
Morgan Stanley analyst William Pecoriello says his research found that 23 percent of consumers have cut back on bottled beverages in favor of tap water or beverages in containers that produce less waste.
The current hard economic times, according to John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, is “probably temporarily” driving the trend to tap. He told the Oct. 15 New York Times that Pepsi and Coke must act quickly because “they could lose a generation of carbonated soft drink consumers.” He got that right. Ask any environmentally aware "tween" or youg teen about their view of bottled water.
Pepsi has pledged to reduce its water consumption by 20 percent as part of its corporate sustainability program. How ironic if increased drinking of tap water reduced demand for Pepsi’s beverages by a similar margin. That really would be a boost for the environment.
(Photo: WaterSecretsBlog)