Can't Live Without It

Today Coca-Cola Co. breaks a new TV, print, and outdoor campaign for Dasani water. The new campaign introduces a new tagline, "Can't live without it."

Adweek's sources say that Dasani's positioning as a healthful refreshment remains unchanged in the new campaign. But the NYTimes article claims that the estimated budget of $20 million is being used to create a sexier image, and bring soft-drink marketing tactics into an increasingly competitive fray.

The New York Times reports that "in one Dasani commercial, a man and woman frolic in an elevator as a security camera captures the action, but they turn out to be husband and wife. In another spot, a woman spends a night out on the town with an extremely attractive man, then heads home where she gets undressed and jumps into bed — with her teddy bear."

The goal is to borrow the trappings of the emotionally evocative lifestyle advertising used typically in soft-drink campaigns, rather than the more rational tack traditionally taken to sell bottled water, which focuses on product benefits like purity and refreshment.

"People may not immediately say, `That's water advertising,' because there are no spas, babbling brooks or yoga," said Kellam Mattie, senior brand manager for Dasani at the Coca-Cola North American division in Atlanta. "But they'll come to say, `This is what water advertising can be.' "