Issue one of H2O Europe was timed to appear at the European industry’s 5th Convention and Trade Fair in Paris in March 1999, and included a preview of the event. I was the first editor and co-founder of what was to become Zenith International Publishing.
My decade as a cooler observer had begun in the autumn of 1998 with visits to various well-established distributors, and the reading of many Zenith International reports. I had met some of the suppliers to the industry at the 10th UK Bottled Water Cooler Association (BWCA) Trade Fair, and had visited Brussels to meet the secretariat of the newly formed European Bottled Water Association (EBWA). Eagle-eyed readers may think that I’ve already made two mistakes, but these associations have since changed their names.
The first issue of H2O Europe carried news of Ionics UK’s acquisition of France’s Aquarelle – the first venture into continental Europe by a UK distributor. The US-based Culligan Group has also edged into 5th place in the UK with the purchase of Watercool, having entered the market in 1998, when it bought coolers from the Hydropure Group.
Another item reported that five of the top 10 UK water cooler companies had been sold to AS Watson during 1998 for over £50m. For more on that part of the industry’s history, see the recent coverage on the sale of Nestlé Waters’ Powwow operation. There was news, not just of consolidation among distributors, but of mergers in the supplier base, too.
Remarking on the growth of the industry at the BWCA event reported in the issue, Zenith International chairman, Richard Hall, noted: “10 years ago, very few people in Britain had ever seen a water cooler. At the end of 1998, there were as many as 200,000 in offices, canteens, showrooms, waiting rooms and homes across the country. That’s 21% more than a year ago and nearly four times the level five years ago. One in five employees now has access to a water cooler.”
In spring 1999, Michael Barnett (who has just retired as BWCA president) was about to become president of the newly created European Bottled Water Association at the industry’s convention in Paris. In the first issue of H2O Europe, he set out “a new direction” for the European association as “an association of associations”, with an important role on the world stage – and a major step forward from what had, until then, been known as IBWA-Europe.
Looking back, I can’t help but want to put 1999 in context. In that first issue of H2O Europe, I clumsily referred to a major company’s “first homepage on the world wide web” as if it was something entirely new. The fact that you’re reading this online shows how far we have come since then.
1 January 1999 saw the birth of the euro as a currency, but we wouldn’t see banknotes until 1 January 2002. It’s worth noting that until January 1999, IBWA-Europe’s membership fees were paid in dollars. How the world has changed.
Yet, some things haven’t changed. Our first country profile was France, which at that time stood in second place in the European cooler rankings, and whose Chateau d’Eau led the market with 37% of coolers. In the feature, a representative of a major French company commented: “There’s a big fight between competitors, which is making prices decrease very fast.”
Hydration was a hot topic in the first issue of H2O Europe, with tips on how to persuade customers to drink more water. And the influence of the weather was as important then as it is now. H2O Europe predicted a hot and thirsty summer to come. We’ve had our share of good and bad summers ever since.
Other ideas in the first issue haven’t seen much progress. There was an item on coolers which provided oxygenated water and another on the franchising model for cooler distributors.
It’s worth mentioning that in that first issue of H2O Europe, there wasn’t a single mention of point of use (POU). For the record then, the world’s first (and to this date, only) POU magazine The Point was launched in the autumn of 2001 and ran until the end of 2005, when the agenda for the industry saw its content merging with H2O Europe to create Cooler Innovation magazine.
Of course, I can’t close a retrospective like this without a brief note of thanks to colleagues past and present. On the company side, the continued success of Cooler Innovation is in no small part due to the publisher of H2O Europe: Zenith International chairman, Richard Hall.
Many people have made serving the cooler industry with an excellent publication that little bit easier over the past decade. In no particular order: Magi Finlayson, Louise Gascoigne, Andy Archibald, Bárbara Cendón, Lulu Laidlaw-Smith, Sarah Smith, Alain Beaumont, Hans Mommsen, Helen O’Sullivan, Florence Ben Driss, Claire Phoenix, Matthew Thomas, Peter Rooley, Trefor Patten, Helen Burgraff, Mike Hurst, and last but by no means least, the current team.
Cooler Innovation may last another 10 years in the capable hands of Hannah Oakman, Medina Bailey, Marta Babits and Jo Shilton. I’ll let you know in 2019.
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