• by Danielle Oster , September 30, 2025

Essentia Water is taking a bigger bite of the Big Apple with its latest campaign.

Created in partnership with agency Drogs5, “Change The Equation” was designed to further connect the brand with New York City audiences, and designed specifically for the market — including the brand’s first hyperlocal marketing activations.

Essentia claims it is already the No. 1 alkaline water brand in the city, with the new campaign representing a new direction for the brand in engaging more directly with its core audience.

In a statement, Essentia Director of Marketing Katharine Weiss, said the campaign was built around “a combination of creative innovation, media investment, and targeted channel strategies,” with a theme of “inviting overachievers to embrace risk and change the equation in their own lives.”

Three campaign hero videos -- “If,” “Winner,” and “Lift Off” -- position the brand as providing “supercharged hydration” to fuel city residents’ big ambitions.

“With NYC as the backdrop, the campaign is designed to disrupt people’s default water habits, visually, viscerally, and culturally,” Drog5 Executive Creative Director Tom McQueen said in a statement.

The hero videos are running across social and paid digital, with snippets from the slots also appearing on digital billboards throughout New York City as part of the OOH component of the campaign.

Local activations across New York include a partnership with local fitness destination Action Black Nomad, skate park installations, pop-up sampling activations, and street performances. OOH activations feature copy tying the brand to messaging around overcoming fears, rejecting comfort, and pushing limits.

The exclusive water of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, Essentia had a brand presence at the Nets annual Practice in the Park event Sept. 27, and will have LED signage featured throughout Barclays Center during Brooklyn Nets home games this season.

“Change the Equation” will also include an investment in women’s sports, with the brand becoming the official water partner of women’s track and field event Athlos NYC. This deal will include include an onsite fan activation, signage across key events, and athlete welcome kits.

The campaign’s social media component keeps the focus on New York as well, with the brand partnering with NYC fitness and culture influencers like  @citybikeboys.

The brand’s locally focused campaign exemplifies Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages’ broader strategy of investing in strong local brands to promote growth, according to a press release.