Dasani – doing well

You may remember, back in 2004, the launch of a new, high quality bottled water, Dasani. It was launched in the UK by Coca Cola amid a £7 million marketing push. Unfortunately for Coke, it was discovered that this top quality, pure bottled water was pretty much nothing other than Sidcup tap water, originating from the Thames [tgwwc] and it’s high tech purification process was well, domestic grade really.

So, imagine the smile on my face when I discover that Dasani is everywhere I look around Vancouver and the lower mainland. In fact, it would seen that it’s everywhere other than Europe [wiki]

Interestingly, when I followed the link ‘About Dasani’  I found that far from hiding the fact that Dasani is local water (although no mention is made of ‘tap’), Coke are making it a selling point. They do still insist that the purification process is state-of-the-art, which is probably true, however the state-of-the-art process, reverse osmosis [wiki], is also widely available for domestic grade purification units. Coke also add that once purified a special blend of minerals are added to enhance the taste – darn it, got me on that one.

So, Canada, enjoy your enhanced tap water. Dasani disappeared from the shelves in the UK as quickly as it had appeared, although I don’t think there was a £7 million campaign associated with it’s leaving the market.

Things go better with truth, eh!