THE NEW REAL THING; THINGS WILL GO BETTER WITH WATER, BETS COKE.

Byline: Dan Sewell Associated Press 

Some 113 years after Coca-Cola began selling the sweetened, carbonated brown water that became the world's most popular soft drink, it's going to market its own brand of the real thing.

Coke announced Friday that it will sell its first bottled water in the United States, and Dasani is it.

``Suffice it to say, we think this is the right time for us to get into this market and that Dasani is the right brand,'' said Coke spokesman Scott Jacobson.

The water, to be sold in a light blue plastic bottle, is expected to be available nationwide and in Canada before this summer. The name, developed over months, doesn't derive from any specific origin but is meant to convey ``a clean, fresh taste,'' Jacobson said. (It is pronounced duh-SAW'-nee.)

An advertising campaign will back the rollout as Coke plunges into a hot market. Bottled water has outpaced the growth of soft drinks, particularly in convenience stores, where water sales have increased as much as 30 percent in recent years.

``We sell a lot of bottled water, especially in the summertime,'' said Steve Tessereau, who manages a busy Texaco station near the Town Center Mall in suburban Cobb County, Ga.

``If it's a Coke brand, it's going to sell,'' Tessereau said of Dasani. ``Why they waited five or six years to get into it, I don't know.''

Coke has a water brand, BonAqua, overseas, but the company has been reluctant to add water to its U.S. line, preferring to encourage daily consumption of Coke, Sprite and its other flavored soft drinks. It just launched a new advertising campaign and promotions for Diet Coke.

But to meet increased demand for alternatives among health- and weight-conscious Americans, Coke in recent years has broadened its offerings to include sports and fruit drinks and juices.

As recently as last month, M. Douglas Ivester, the company's chairman and chief executive, said Coke remained leery about water.

``There's an awful lot of water sold in the world . . . there's not an awful lot of money made selling water,'' Ivester told a Rotary Club luncheon. ``We're in this business for profitable growth.''

Bottled water sales have jumped from $2.65 billion in 1990 to $4.3 billion last year, when sales grew nearly 10 percent over 1997. The $56.3 billion carbonated soft drink market grew by only 3 percent last year.

Soft-drink rival Pepsico Inc. has done well in the five years since introducing its Aquafina, which has become the leading water brand in convenience stores.

John Sicher, publisher of the trade journal Beverage Digest, expects Coke's water venture will take off quickly.

``I would anticipate that within one or two years, Dasani will be one of the leaders in bottled waters,'' Sicher said.

Earlier reports about Coke's water project indicated the water will come from wells or taps, then be purified, with minerals such as potassium or magnesium added.

True to the Coke secret-formula tradition, Jacobson wouldn't give details of Dasani's composition, other than to say it will be purified, noncarbonated water enhanced with minerals for taste.

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Photo, Box

PHOTO (Color) The Coca-Cola Co. has announced it will begin to sell bottled water in the United States under the brand name Dasani. It will be packaged in a light blue plastic bottle.

BOX: WATER BATTLE

Coca-Cola is selling its first bottled water in the United States under the label Dasani. A look at 1998 market share of some Coca-Cola Co. and Pepsico Inc. products:

SOURCE: Beverage Marketing Corporation