Brands are hungry for a chance to help you hydrate. Here’s Why “There’s Water for That”

There are more ways to quench your thirst than ever before, but that’s not all they do.

There’s DryWater, a powder that contains 34 vitamins, minerals, and other ingredients. Melt water drinks are made by simulating the formation and melting of glaciers. Dozens of electrolyte, prebiotic, and probiotic products have hit the market, from Ka-Ex, a powder said to reduce cortisol levels and stress, to Jolly Rancher and Sonic-branded drink boosters that aim to get kids to scream, too.

Brands are benefiting from consumers’ desire for health and wellness and a culture focused on improvement, marketing experts said. Last year, brick-and-mortar stores in the United States sold about $4.3 trillion of beverages and $236 million of drink enhancers marketed as helping with hydration, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.

The hydration industry is no longer just about empowering athletes, said Stacy Schwartz, director of the Master of Science in Digital Marketing program at Rutgers Business School. It is now also about bringing people back into balance, building immunity or helping to relax.

“Whatever aspect of your body you want to improve, there is water for that,” she said.

The fourth liquid, Electrolyte Pastille Crystals that comes in flavors like blue cotton candy and rainbow sherbet, has become a household staple for a number of consumers. The product was the fifth most popular purchase during Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime sale event earlier this month, according to market research firm Numerator. Liquid IV could soon become a billion-dollar product, Fernando Fernandez, CEO of the brand’s parent company, Unilever, said on a conference call this month.

In the past decade, companies have moved away from marketing messages traditionally associated with bottled water, which promised it could replace what was lost, said Jonathan Chang, a marketing professor at Colorado State University. He said they are now promoting the products as tools to embrace one’s potential as more Americans prioritize health and wellness.

“Several forces have converged: the rise of wearable technology that has made health measurable; social media aesthetics that have equated self-care with aspirational lifestyles; and pandemic-era meditation, which has made consumers more attuned to preventive and functional health,” Zhang said via email.

In an age where many track their sleep, physical activity and diet, drinks that promise to meet personal health needs have become attractive, Schwartz said. She said the drinks might seem like an affordable splurge compared to a reiki session or massage. (Some restaurants have begun to satisfy this thirst for luxury, by hiring sommeliers to create menus featuring options like Berg, a $95 bottle sourced from Newfoundland, Canada, The Wall Street Journal I mentioned recently.)

By hydrating, people may have felt more in control of their health and fate during the pandemic, and stuck to the idea in the face of economic uncertainty, political division and other community-level stressors, said Emily Contois, a media studies professor at the University of Tulsa.

Stanley and Oala sold dozens of bottles of water. Many moisturizing applications have made a name for themselves; Social media is full of recipes for electrolyte recovery drinks that you can make yourself. But the market may not be saturated yet. About a quarter of consumers plan to drink more bottled or bottled water in the next year, according to surveys by Numerator.

“We are living in a moment where there is a great deal of mistrust, uncertainty and instability,” Contois said. “People turn inward looking for that sense of control, that sense of certainty, in the small and mundane things of our daily lives.”