Perrier - History

History

The spring in Southern France from which Perrier is drawn was called Les Bouillens. It has been used as a spa since Roman times. Local doctor Louis Perrier bought the spring in 1898 and operated a commercial spa there; he also bottled the water for sale. He later sold the spring to Sir Saint-John Harmsworth, a wealthy British visitor. Harmsworth was the younger brother of the newspaper magnates Lord Northcliffe and Lord Rothermere. He had come to France to learn the language. Dr. Perrier showed him the spring, and he decided to buy it. He sold his share of the family newspapers to raise the money. Harmsworth closed the spa, as spas were becoming unfashionable. He renamed the spring Source Perrier and started bottling the water in distinctive green bottles. The shape was that of the Indian clubs, which Harmsworth used for exercise.

Harmsworth marketed the product in Britain at a time when Frenchness was seen as 'chic' and aspirational to the middle classes. It was advertised as the Champagne of mineral water (There is a genuine champagne by the name of Laurent Perrier but there is no connection). Advertising in newspapers like the Daily Mail established the brand. Some 95% of sales were in Britain and the U.S.

Perrier's reputation for purity suffered a blow in 1990 when a laboratory in North Carolina in the United States found Benzene, a carcinogen, in several bottles. Perrier stated that it was an isolated incident of a worker having made a mistake in the filtering procedure and that the spring itself was unpolluted. The incident ultimately led to the worldwide withdrawal of the product, some 160 million bottles of Perrier.

From 1981 to 2005, the company sponsored an annual comedy award in the United Kingdom, the Perrier Comedy Award, also known as "The Perriers". In 2006 it was announced that Perrier would no longer sponsor the award, which was renamed if.comeddies, after its new sponsor, Intelligent Finance.

In 1992, Perrier was bought by rival Nestle, one of the world's leading food and drink companies.

In 2004, a crisis erupted when the Nestlé group, owner of Perrier, announced a restructuring plan for Perrier. In 2005, Perrier was ordered to halt restructuring, because of a failure to consult adequately with staff.