Ever wonder who talked U.S. consumers into paying for bottled water?
Blame it on Orson Welles.
Looking to crack into the U.S. market, Perrier developed a marketing plan in 1976 to persuade the public to buy something that could be found by simply turning on the tap.
Welles was not a surprising choice given his rich voice and experience pitching Paul Masson wines and Jim Beam whiskey.
The man who had convinced a jittery public in 1938 that Martians were invading was hired to extol the virtues of sparkling water with a series commercials that debuted in 1977, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“More quenching, more refreshing, and a mixer par excellence,” intoned the rich baritone of Orson Welles in a Perrier advertisement dated 1979, as a bubbling stream cascaded from a green bottle and swirled into a clear goblet. “Naturally sparkling, from the center of the earth,” the actor continued. He wrapped up the ad with a single word, the “r”’s perfectly French: “Perrier.”
As part of the marketing plan, Perrier dropped the price of its 23-ounce bottle from $1.09 to 69 cents ($2.72 in 2016 dollars) – within the reach of a certain strata of society, but significant enough that buying it still constituted a statement.
According to WSJ, Perrier now rested in “that sweet spot of being simultaneously aspirational and accessible.”
Check out an advertisement from 1979 featuring Welles promoting Perrier.
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