Watch Culligan’s first campaign from Highdive

Culligan is unveiling its first global brand campaign, “It’s just water until it’s Culligan,” as it seeks to unify its message worldwide. The water filtration brand’s new effort is also its first work from Highdive, the Chicago-based agency the 89-year-old marketer hired six months ago to lead the global push. The new campaign will target consumer complacency, said Patricia Pieretti, Culligan’s global chief marketing officer, noting that most consumers do not question their everyday water. If it’s clear and tastes good, they assume it is good, said Pieretti, a former SharkNinja executive who joined Culligan two years ago. “Sometimes as humans we don’t realize we could be doing something better—we could be tasting water more,” she said. “The heart of this campaign is building that awareness,” she said, adding that the work will establish Culligan’s “superiority” over single-use plastic water bottles and other established drinking water methods. This marks the first time Culligan, which does business in some 90 countries and has offices in 40, has released a single campaign on a global scale. The work was the main objective of an agency review Pieretti implemented last summer in order to find a mid-sized shop able to deliver a globe-sized campaign. Culligan’s push comes as the worldwide market for filtered water is growing; consumers are eschewing single-use plastic water bottles and replacing them with reusable ones from brands such as Owala, Stanley and Hydro Flask, typically filled with filtered water. The global water filters market was valued at $10 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach nearly $15 billion by 2029, according to a report published at researchandmarkets.com. Culligan had projected its revenue would reach $2.5 billion in 2022, following its acquisition by BDT Capital Partners. The brand created two 30-second spots for the initial rollout this week; one focuses on home water and the other on office water coolers. In the home spot, a voiceover touts the benefits of the brand’s filtration systems. “When you get Culligan water, something extraordinary happens— you don’t just know your water is cleaner, safer, better-tasting— you feel it in every sip,” the voice says. The water cooler spot includes a variation of the same lines. Culligan will continue to use “Water you love” as its brand slogan in marketing, which it unveiled last year as it moved beyond the 1950s-era “Culligan Man” slogan. At the end of the new videos, the brand slogan appears in text after the campaign tagline “It’s just water until it’s Culligan,” for example. The multimillion-dollar campaign represents the Rosemont, Illinois-based brand’s largest brand awareness investment yet. Each 30-second spot has shorter 15-and 6-second cut downs for various marketing channels. The work will run on linear and connected TV, where Culligan has partnered with streamers such as Hulu, Peacock and Prime, and include out-of-home and paid social on the likes of Meta and TikTok. Pieretti noted a focus on certain countries, including Germany, the U.S. and the U.K. Tinuiti handled media duties. “What we really are excited about is how can we trigger in the consumers’ mind this small spark of why would you settle for not-great water,” said Pieretti, noting that younger generations in particular have been moving to healthier drinking habits. Indeed, Culligan has been focusing on this group with its recent TikTok series “The Kids Table,” where two Gen Alpha kids discuss the merits of filtered water.

Watch Culligan’s first campaign from Highdive

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