Though Brita introduced countertop filtration to the US, competition in the category was intensifying with Procter + Gamble's purchase of Pur.
It was the early aughts and Brita was struggling to compete. The category was a sea of sameness with all of the players focused either on taste or contaminant removal.
PR stepped back and asked: what if we stopped talking about contaminant removal and talked about reducing plastic bottle waste instead? What if we told consumers that one Brita filter could save as many as 300 plastic bottles for going into landfills? We believed—- correctly— that we weren’t the only ones who cared.
Filter for Good was born and almost immediately WalMart , with its own public commitment to sustainability, came on board. It cleared incremental shelf space for Brita during Earth Month and beyond. Other retailers-- Target and Kroger-- joined in.
Brita saw sales climb, confounded PUR, and Filter for Good campaign went on to win multiple awards including the first-ever Clio for PR.