At the 2024 Australian Open finals, Novak Djokovic unscrewed a bottle of water and poured it into a metal cup he carried with him.

As the camera zoomed in, a small blue cube at the bottom of the cup quickly dissolved, and the entire audience could clearly see the logo on the cup wall—waterdrop.

Image source: waterdrop official social media

This scene sparked heated discussion on social media: "What exactly is the tennis king drinking?"

The answer is revealed! It’s a "micro drink" the size of a fingernail, instantly dissolving in water, available in 12 flavors like lemon and blueberry, and crucially, it’s zero sugar and zero calories.

It’s this little cube that has made the Austrian brand waterdrop, founded just eight years ago, sell over 100 million units a year and become popular in 40 countries, with even Walmart giving it prime shelf space.

Image source: waterdrop

Inspiration at Thirty Thousand Feet

The story of waterdrop begins in the spring of 2016.

On a flight to Singapore, Austrian Martin stared at the plastic drink bottle in his hand, lost in thought:

Why do healthy drinks have to be packed in heavy packaging?

What if fruit and plant extracts could be condensed into a "small sugar cube" that instantly turns into a drink when dropped into water? Wouldn’t that be both eco-friendly and convenient?

Image source: waterdrop

This inspiration led him to immediately team up with his brother Henry and friend Christoph. The three squeezed into a small office in Vienna and began countless experiments.

They tried pressing blueberries into powder, adjusted dozens of formula ratios, and even temporarily lost their sense of taste from sampling too many prototypes.

waterdrop founding team Image source: Internet

Until one day, a fingernail-sized cube was dropped into water, quickly dissolving into a cup of light purple liquid with a fruity aroma—the first generation "micro drink" was born.

Image source: waterdrop

From Pop-up Store to Global Giant

Starting in a small office in 2016, every step this brand took was right on trend.

In the 2017 pop-up store, curious customers surrounded the staff asking, "Is this really made just with plain water?"

In 2018, they appeared on a German startup show, where judges exclaimed that the "drink cube" that fits in a shirt pocket "could change supermarket shelves."

The real turning point came in 2021. When American consumers found these colorful little cubes on Walmart shelves, it was during the post-pandemic work-from-home boom, and more and more people were tired of stockpiling large bottles of drinks.

That same year, they signed their one-millionth customer, meaning 274 new users tried the "magic of turning water into a drink" every day.

Image source: Internet

At the 2024 Australian Open, when Djokovic raised a water cup with the Waterdrop logo, this former "little cube" had already become a business spanning 45 countries.

The latest financial report shows that in 2022 alone, they sold $96 million worth of products, which means every minute, 18 "drink cubes" are being dissolved in water cups around the world.

Image source: waterdrop

Waterdrop’s Social Media Viral Strategy

In the early days of the Waterdrop brand, they mainly relied on online websites and a few offline specialty stores to sell products, following a DTC model.

To attract more target customers, they also spent a lot of money collaborating with influencers on social media, engaging in influencer marketing, which worked quite well.

For example, on YouTube, Waterdrop’s performance is very impressive.

A short video released on May 12, 2023, reached 1.56 million views. This video focused on the concepts of "eco-friendly" and "sugar-free," with a creative approach that depicted everyone as "living with drink bottles," provoking thought.

Image source: YouTube

Besides official content, Waterdrop also places great emphasis on word-of-mouth marketing, recruiting many KOCs and KOLs to make review videos.

For example, they collaborated with the well-known Czech blogger @Rozum v troubě to launch a review video. This 7-minute-24-second video recorded the complete Waterdrop product experience from unboxing to actual tasting.

The video title is also quite clever: "Waterdrop: Is it overpriced soda water or a magical drink?" This suspenseful title successfully attracted a large audience, and the video eventually exceeded 190,000 views, achieving a good communication effect.

Image source: YouTube

On TikTok, the official account @waterdrop has attracted 734,100 followers, with a total of 5.7 million likes on its videos.

Image source: TikTok

One TikTok video about an offline pop-up store is especially popular, with 53.3 million views and nearly 860,000 likes so far—quite impressive numbers.

Image source: TikTok

Waterdrop often replies to users’ messages and comments, interacting with them,which helps enhance brand affinity, increase user stickiness, and form a positive cycle of healthy interaction.

Image source: TikTok

It’s clear that Waterdrop’s TikTok account has now entered a stable phase, with content no longer just showcasing products, but becoming richer and more layered. This refined operation makes users more willing to stay, increasing fan stickiness.

According to founder Martin Murray, Waterdrop invests more than six figures in influencer marketing every year. Judging by the results, the brand’s investment is worthwhile and has achieved good marketing effects.

Image source: waterdrop

Why Can Even Drinking Water Become Big Business?

Looking at these numbers, maybe it’s clear: In the US, the average person drinks 657 cans of beverages a year, and the growth rate of sugar-free products is three times that of traditional drinks. By 2025, the global beverage market is expected to reach $276.44 billion; by 2029, the number of users is expected to reach 1.5 billion.

Image source: statista

Behind this, "health anxiety" is also a key driver.

Data from relevant e-commerce platforms show that searches for the keyword "sugar-free" have increased by 740% in three years, while traditional carbonated drink sales have seen their first decline in 20 years.

Image source: Internet

Final Words

Waterdrop’s overseas market expansion is essentially a deep decoding of global consumption habits.

From Europe to North America and then to the Asian market, its success does not rely on a single product innovation, but is built on an accurate grasp of consumer psychology in different markets.

This path of going global is especially instructive for Chinese companies. The overseas market is not a single entity, but a puzzle made up of countless segmented markets. Each market has its own unique culture, consumption habits, and regulatory requirements, and simply copying the successful domestic model often doesn’t work.

For Chinese companies, the challenge of going global is not just about the product itself, but about understanding and adapting to the rules and needs of overseas markets.

Globalization is not achieved overnight, but is a process that requires patience, focus, and continuous learning.