From bottled water to water drinks

What’s in a name ? Everything. The world changes. And so do markets. Which means that words to describe markets must change too.

Bottled water has been a market phenomenon over the past 30-40 years. It has become more than bottled and more than water.

Earlier this year, Zenith Global changed its UK market report titles to reflect this.

• First there is Plain Water, which may come from a natural or a municipal source.

• Second there are Water Plus Drinks, which include those with added flavour and/or functionality.

• The combined category is now more simply and completely described as Water Drinks.

We commend these new category names to other industry groups and the media.

We shall also be altering our conference and awards programmes to match, so we shall hold the:

• 2020 UK Water Drinks Conference on 24th March in London

• 2020 Global Water Drinks Congress in the autumn

• 2020 Global Water Drinks Awards in the autumn.

Let’s see when industry innovation ingenuity leads to the next set of changes.