Essentia Water is taking to the streets and screens of New York City with a 360-degree campaign, “Change the Equation,” that looks to inspire consumers to think, act and hydrate differently. The hyperlocal campaign focuses on the Nestlé alkaline water brand’s top market.
“Launching there really gave us this opportunity to pursue a bit of a different strategy, to focus less on the breadth, more on the depth, and really go all in on the New York market,” said Katherine Weiss, the brand’s marketing director.
To intercept New Yorkers during all facets of their day, the effort includes online videos, out-of-home ads, experiential activations, influencer collaborations and an official partnership with Athlos, a women-only track and field event.
“We were really thinking about following the journey of the day: Where are we going to show up in this authentic way for our consumers?” Weiss said. “The goal was making Essentia impossible to ignore if you’re walking around the city.”
‘If rulebook, rip it’
All together, the elements of the campaign play into the edginess in Essentia’s DNA, highlighting that achievements across a range of activities don’t come without risk. The effort positions Essentia as a catalyst for consumers to change their own life equations, as the campaign’s name maintains. The brand’s tagline and an “if X, Y it” construct in the creative (“If rulebook, rip it,” says one ad) nod to the plus and equal symbols in Essentia’s iconography and packaging.
“We’ve always had real strength in the branding... so we were leaning a little harder into that graphically, bringing that to the surface to give it that punch,” said Tom McQueen, executive creative director at Droga5, the agency that helped create the campaign. Droga5 previously worked with Essentia on a social-first campaign for the launch of the brand’s first-ever flavored, functional water.
Three hero videos rethink category cliches around fitness and sports by placing athletes in a stark studio with an art exhibit-like quality. “If” features a weightlifter using cinder blocks as weights, “Winner” incorporates trophies into a workout and “Liftoff” focuses on a handful of skateboarders.
“When it’s the water category, it can get quite light and bright, and what Essentia has always done really well has been the antithesis to that and more of an attitude,” McQueen said. “The films had more grit to them, and it was far more of a graphic provocation that … really let you focus on the voiceover, the point of view and the message.”
Activations throughout New York tap into the city’s vibrant street culture and include installations at skate parks, pop-up performances and a “guerilla” sampling push. The brand will also partner with fitness locale Action Black Nomad and influencers including @gabbois and @citybikeboys.
Breaking boundaries
Essentia is also the exclusive water brand of the Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets and will have a presence on LED signage at home games and at the team’s Practice in the Park event on Sept. 27.
The brand’s latest sports partnership is with Athlos, which is returning for its second annual event on Oct. 10 and will launch a league next year. Partnering with Athlos gives Essentia a new way to invest in women’s sports: with a league that will feature athlete-owners and an authentic connection to the brand.
“They are the embodiment of changing the equation in women’s sports by really elevating and honoring these female track and field athletes who are really pushing boundaries,” Weiss said. “We really see it as shared celebration of our commitment to ambition, purpose and breaking limits.”
While “Change the Equation” is launching with a New York-focused campaign, iterations for cities including Los Angeles and Miami are in the works for 2026.
“We’re working through how we’re going to deploy this hyperlocal strategy to some of the other priority markets that also lead culture where we also want to win,” Weiss said. “We’re excited to see different variations show up in a new, locally relevant way.”
