United Artists Theatre Circuit Intros Bottled Water Brand

A dramatic rise in bottled water sales at cinemas owned by United Artists Theatre, Englewood, Colo., has prompted the company to introduce its own brand of water. Frontier Clear water is sold today in 250 theaters nationwide, with hundreds more to follow.The product is dispensed from a standard, 18-inch-tall, two-valve drink machine called the Frontier Clear Water Dispenser. It is crowned by four-color, silkscreened signage designed by United Artists.Introduced last summer, the 14-inch-wide by 9-inch-tall by 2-inch-deep sign is braced by a rectangular-like black metal frame that supports the silkscreened, polycarbonate face, black styrene backing and internal light box. The sign, with an average unit cost of $70, attaches with two screws to a metal mounting bracket that fastens to the top of the dispenser. Theater managers mount the sign themselves, which is shipped with the dispenser.Roll-out of the sign and dispenser is still under way, placed first in new or remodeled theaters. By year end, Frontier Clear water will be offered in all 420 United Artists locations nationwide. Some locations plan to feature more than one dispenser.The idea for the company's own brand of water came with the dramatic increase in sales over the past five years in name brand bottled water, which sold at theaters for $2 per bottle and cost approximately 55 cents. Meanwhile, United Artist Theatre was already producing purified water from elaborate, state-of-the-art filtration systems to dispense "the best cola you can get," according to Maria Angles, promotions manager for the company.Explains Angles, "The filtration systems already in place in our theaters produce purified water that's the same or better than today's name brand bottled waters. So we developed the Frontier name and P-O-P signage, and set up a special fountain that dispenses the product at a fraction of the cost, with no drop-off in sales."Counter cards and mobiles help promote Frontier Clear water in the theaters. In the near future, videos shown on lobby monitors may also be used to help promote sales.

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