One helps Co-op push water range as ethical

The Co-operative Group is harnessing the ethical water brand power of One for the relaunch of its own label water.

Fairbourne Springs will go into all 3,200 co-operative society stores in a new format with One appearing as a sub-brand. For every bottle sold, a donation of between 5p and 20p will be made to One's charity The One Foundation.

The One water brand, which was the official water for the Live8 concert in July 2005 and is also available in Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose and Total UK, will continue to be listed in Co-op stores.

One Foundation logos will be displayed on the Fairbourne Springs line, which includes still and sparkling 500ml sportscap bottles and five-litre bottles.

Donations will fund the installation of special PlayPump roundabout water pumps in Africa.

Each PlayPump costs £7,800 to install and the Co-op is hoping to donate enough money from Fairbourne Springs to fund 100 pumps a year.

"This is an easy way for our customers to make a difference to thousands of lives in Africa," said Debbie Robinson, director of food retail marketing at the Co-op Group. "It's a water-for-water concept that makes perfect sense, and we hope many shoppers will switch to Fairbourne Springs instead of their usual branded mineral water."

The Co-op would be promoting the water in-store on till screens and radio, said external campaigns manager Amanda Collins.

Other ethical branded waters include Frank, Belu and Thirsty Planet. Volvic is also looking at teaming up with Unicef in the UK so water profits can be used to build wells in drought-hit countries (The Grocer, 28 July, p60). One's founder Duncan Goose said he aimed to achieve listings in the remaining multiples and a listing in foodservice.