Why Water Bottle Branding is the New Merch Goldmine
I recently spent too long browsing the drinks fridge at a reasonably hip Mount Eden café and realised something strange. I wasn't choosing my water based on taste. Or cost. Or carbonation preference. I was choosing it based on whether the bottle looked cool enough to keep on my desk later. This wasn’t hydration. This was branding theater.
We've hit peak water bottle. Strange to think, but the sleek, minimalist bottles of brands like Antipodes and StrangeLove are now functioning as low-key status symbols. Like Yeezys, but filled with spring water and mild self-delusion. They've become the merch you didn’t know you were buying. And the brands know it. Glass bottles, stylised text, biodegradable caps, embossed logos—it’s a competition to be the most casually photogenic item in your tote bag.
What’s fascinating is how this reshapes what ‘merch’ even is. Forget T-shirts and lanyards. The real win is to make your packaging so beautiful people reuse it. Treat it preciously. Subtly advertise you by refilling it with tap water. I saw someone last week decanting kombucha into an empty San Pellegrino bottle on a plane. That, my friend, is how you win the brand Olympics.
So here’s the crux: if product packaging is passively walking around in the world long after the product’s gone, marketers need to play the long game. Design your bottle like you want it on a shelf. Or a desk. Or in a still-life TikTok. Suddenly, every drink is a branding Trojan horse.
We've hit peak water bottle. Strange to think, but the sleek, minimalist bottles of brands like Antipodes and StrangeLove are now functioning as low-key status symbols. Like Yeezys, but filled with spring water and mild self-delusion. They've become the merch you didn’t know you were buying. And the brands know it. Glass bottles, stylised text, biodegradable caps, embossed logos—it’s a competition to be the most casually photogenic item in your tote bag.
What’s fascinating is how this reshapes what ‘merch’ even is. Forget T-shirts and lanyards. The real win is to make your packaging so beautiful people reuse it. Treat it preciously. Subtly advertise you by refilling it with tap water. I saw someone last week decanting kombucha into an empty San Pellegrino bottle on a plane. That, my friend, is how you win the brand Olympics.
So here’s the crux: if product packaging is passively walking around in the world long after the product’s gone, marketers need to play the long game. Design your bottle like you want it on a shelf. Or a desk. Or in a still-life TikTok. Suddenly, every drink is a branding Trojan horse.