La Croix Sparkling Water

In 1981, the G. Heileman Brewing Company, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, introduced LaCroix as one of the first "Anti-Perrier" brands. Meant to appeal to sparkling water consumers who were put off by Perrier's "snobbish positioning", LaCroix marketed to its niche by imaging itself as an "all occasion" beverage.[2]

The beverage fared well in popularity and sales in the surrounding Midwest region for the following decade. By 1992, the brand was estimated to be worth US$25 million.[3] However, in the same year, due to Heileman's admitted lack of experience outside the beer market, it sold the brand to National Beverage (then Winterbrook).[3]

Since the early 1990s, LaCroix has been a fairly well-known product in the Midwest. Its sudden rise in popularity outside of the Midwest United States, however, has only been a recent phenomenon.[4][5]

In 2002, National Beverage sought to rebrand LaCroix and ended up settling on the design that was "least favored by management" but won over target consumers in a "landslide".[6] Instead of staying with the clean and simple designs like other water brands, they found that a more bold and colorful approach was more appealing to their audience. The successful execution of the “anti-Perrier” strategy, in all its forms, has been a key factor enabling LaCroix to become one of the top sparkling water brands.[2]

In spring of 2015, with sugary soda sales plummeting to a 30-year low in the US,[7] National Beverage saw an opportunity to expand their consumer base, subsequently launching a marketing campaign for the beverage on social media, specifically targeting millennials.[4] Their marketing efforts have since helped position LaCroix with mainstream news outlets as a healthier alternative to sugary soda, as well as a mixer for popular cocktails.[8][9][10]

Sales records have never been publicly released, but market research suggests LaCroix holds a 30 percent market share in sparkling water sales in the United States, double that of its main competitor, Perrier.[4][11]

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