FDBusiness.com

Two popular bottled water brands – China’s Ice Dew and smartwater, which is available in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and South Korea – both passed the $1 billion barrier in annual retail sales in 2015. Since 2007, The Coca-Cola Company has added 10 brands to its billion-dollar portfolio across a range of beverage categories. Not far behind, a pipeline of 14 additional brands currently generate annual retail sales between $500 million and $1 billion.

“Ice Dew and smartwater’s climb to join our list of billion-dollar brands is a good indicator of even more growth ahead in the water/water ‘plus’ category,” says John Hackett, senior vice president, Stills and Juice, The Coca-Cola Company. “Our system can continue to create value for ourselves and our consumers through the premium benefits these brands provide. We expect more of our markets to expand smartwater and replicate the success of Ice Dew.”

Ice Dew, which launched in mainland China in 2001, is offered in two varieties: mineralized and purified.

Smartwater, which The Coca-Cola Company acquired in 2007, is a premium line of vapor-distilled water with added electrolytes (calcium, magnesium and potassium) for taste.

Two popular beverage brands in Japan, I LOHAS and Ayataka, dropped off Coke’s billion-dollar brand list in 2015 due to the strength of the U.S. dollar versus the yen. Both brands continue to grow locally, but since The Coca-Cola Company converts all sales globally from local currency to U.S. dollars for the purpose of compiling this list, these two brands’ annual retail sales no longer surpass $1 billion given the yen’s decline in value.