If Water Is Just Water, Why Does One Cost 20x More?

How is it that Poland Spring costs $0.37 per liter while Acqua Panna sells for nearly $8?

That’s a price spread of more than 2,000% 🤯 and chemically, it’s still just H₂O.

Branding expert Chris Do often uses water brands to illustrate how value isn’t in the product itself, but in the meaning attached to it. Let’s carry that idea forward a little further.

Let’s explore what these waters can teach us about branding and how you can apply the same principles to your own business.

Comparing Retail Target Numbers 

When I converted pack prices from Target (the retailer) into cost per liter, here’s what I found:

• Poland Spring → $0.37/L
• Aquafina → $0.46/L
• Fiji → $2.00/L
• Evian → $2.16/L
• Liquid Death → $2.81/L
• Voss → $4.74/L
• Acqua Panna → $7.78/L

Same category. Same essential product. Seven wildly different levels of perceived value.

What’s Driving Price?

1. Origin & Story

• Evian comes from the French Alps.
• Fiji draws from a remote artesian aquifer.
• Acqua Panna flows through the Tuscan hills.
• Voss is sourced from a pristine aquifer in Southern Norway.

These places aren’t just sources, they’re stories. They make you feel something. Drinking Evian feels like an alpine escape. Acqua Panna transports you to Tuscan villas. Fiji? You’re suddenly in the tropical South Pacific. And Voss? It evokes Scandinavian purity and minimalist luxury.

(If you’re wondering what an artesian aquifer is, it’s a naturally pressurized underground water source filtered by layers of rock, like nature’s built-in premium filter. I didn’t know either.)

👉 THE LESSON: Your origin story matters. Where you come from, why you exist, what shaped you. That’s branding fuel.

2. Packaging & Design

• Voss is sleek minimalism in a cylindrical bottle.
• Liquid Death looks more like a craft beer can, not water.
• Acqua Panna’s glass bottle signals fine dining.

The vessel is part of the value. Put the same liquid in a generic jug, and the value evaporates..

👉 THE LESSON: Design is strategy made visible. Your visuals and packaging signal your place in the market before a single word is spoken.

3. Associations & Prestige

• Evian shows up in luxury spas.
• Voss sits in corporate boardrooms.
• Liquid Death sponsors punk concerts.

Each brand has carved out its own cultural space. And customers pay for belonging to that space.

👉 THE LESSON: People don’t just buy a product, they buy the tribe, the environment, the identity that comes with it.

4. Consumer Psychology & Price Anchoring

When Poland Spring anchors the shelf at $0.37/L, Fiji at $2.00/L feels like a reasonable upgrade. And when you see $7.78/L Acqua Panna, it’s not competing with Poland Spring anymore; it’s competing with wine on the restaurant table.

👉 THE LESSON: Don’t be afraid to set your price higher. Anchoring works both ways. Being the “premium choice” changes how you’re perceived.

What This Means for Your Brand

Branding isn’t decoration, it’s differentiation. And just like water, your offer might look similar to your competitors on the surface, but how you brand it changes everything.

Branding lets you:

1. Charge more for what others sell cheaply. Competing on price is a race to the bottom. Branding creates permission to set premium prices because you’re selling meaning, not just product.
2. Differentiate in crowded markets. Poland Spring and Aquafina sell water. So do Fiji and Voss. The difference? Story, packaging, associations. Without branding, you’re just “one more option on the shelf.”
3. Build loyalty through emotional connection. People return to brands that align with their values and identity. Evian isn’t just hydration, it’s wellness and luxury. Liquid Death isn’t just water, it’s a little rebellion and fun.
4. Anchor value where your product becomes more than its function. Water quenches thirst. Your service solves a problem. But branding makes both symbolic. With the right positioning, you’re no longer compared only on features, but on the feeling you create.

Here’s some truth: People don’t pay for what something is. They pay for what it means.

And that’s the heart of branding.

Take This With You

Ask yourself:

• What’s my origin story? Why do I exist? What makes my foundation unique?
• How does my design and packaging (website, visuals, words, customer experience) signal value?
• What associations do I want people to make when they encounter my brand?
• Am I competing on lowest price… or highest meaning?

Water proves it: branding turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.

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Ivonne Ribeiro | Build a Brand That Means Business | ibrandstrategist.com