Holly HY / 03 June 2026 / Categories: Food & Drink, Product and Brands, Food, Opinions, Advertising, Celebrity Endorsement, Brand Advertising

Evian Water and Wimbledon Competition 200 Years Young

Why some advertising collaborations really work and why it did for me

I don’t buy bottled water usually, I drink tap water at home and in restaurants. It has a carbon footprint 3,500 times lower than drinking bottled water. Whilst there has been a question mark around declining quality of UK tap water, (I have thought about starting to distill there is no evidence to support our tap Water in the UK which doesn’t come from contaminated rivers and streams has detonated) with the heatwave in the UK, comes a need to have more water on hand in the car. I’ve been using my local convenience store a lot to pick up and deliver online shopping and selling, they have been super helpful, friendly and really great and I’ve felt bad I don’t give them more business. So as it has got hotter and I’ve been spending quite a bit buying small bottles of water with lunch (and the plastic has been accumulating in my car) I was conscious I wanted to save money and save the planet by buying larger bottles of water and then transferring that into smaller reusable aluminium water bottles. I know I’ve still got big single use plastic bottles to recycle but at least they are better than buying one or two small ones every day.

The bottles were Evian, not for any other reason than they were the cheapest at £1.49 each.

And then I was even happier as I saw the opportunity to win a pair of centre court Wimbledon tickets 2026, they have 4 pairs to give away the top prize out of 2000 plus other prizes.

It’s interesting because the winning moments, ie the time you enter, in days, hours, minutes and seconds, pre selected and completely random by a computer are the criteria that decide whether you get lucky or not. If someone doesn’t enter at the exact winning moment then the next entry is the winner.

I made my first entries first thing. I’ve got two more bottles in the fridge to try. I bought the last two from my convenience store yesterday and I am not sure if they have anymore in the back. I will find out though.

It got me thinking about how expensive brand sponsorships actually work and what would make someone like me, who never gambles, doesn’t have membership cards or apps for discounts, doesn’t give their email out unless absolutely necessary because of the spam and marketing crap that comes back and would never enter any competition, participate.

The last competition I remember entering was a couple of years ago with Stella Artois for the same elusive prize but because I don’t drink it was too difficult for me to complete the purchase, I did intend to buy the beer and not drink it and then it was too much hassle. The time before was over 40 years ago, I had to come up with a slogan to win a Renault 5, I had just passed my driving test. I didn’t win then either.

My best friend has a saying “You’ve got to be in it, to win it” and this be true.

I’ve given Evian my email address and checked I am happy to receive promotional material. I thought this might improve my chances of a win. If I was a promoter I’d imagine someone I can promote back to is more appealing to reward with a win than someone who says “I just want to enter and then don’t bother me”

From the info about the competition this thinking is completely erroneous.

Thoughts on the Evian bottled water brand, in the 80’s Evian water was aspirational it was the still water brand that emerged after Perrier water, well they were French.

And I probably bought Evian because it represented style and sophistication to me back then living life in London, a Fulham flat owner, Golf GTI driving “Yuppie” how that makes me cringe now.

These days I am more practical, don’t waste money and desperately want to reduce my consumption of single use plastic so try to avoid buying plastic bottles period, something virtually impossible.

Wimbledon is a sporting event I am passionate about, have been a few times when I was younger invited through work or friends of friends with connections. The ballot has been less successful. Like the Evian competition every year I enter and am yet to win.

I keep reminding myself “you’ve got to be in it, to win it”

I know, there’s always the queue. I even got as far as reading the information cover to cover about the Wimbledon queue which to be honest sounds absolutely hideous, camping overnight, or joining at 6am in the morning on a wing and a prayer you might get a ticket, everyone who wants a ticket has to be present and endure the work, you can’t even stand there for hours as the nominated person for you and your friends. And who wants to turn up at Wimbledon, having been up all night, without a wash or a blow dry looking like a tramp for an amazing day out. Not me.

So Evian, that’s why your competition worked for me and you got my precious deets no one gets. For how long before I unsubscribe. That depends on how much junk mail you send me.