A time to conquer

In 1947, Gustave Leven, then a young broker in Paris, heard that a natural carbonated mineral water spring was up for sale in southern France. He soon was on his way to inspect the site. What he found was a somewhat neglected spring, but with a large workforce that was actively bottling, capping and labelling as they had been doing since the turn of the century. Leven concluded that if the people of Vergèze could sell this water at three times the price of a bottle of wine, the spring must have extraordinary potential. He decided to buy it. To develop the site, Gustave Leven launched a massive modernization plan, completely revamping the production process and introducing an industrial strategy based on manufacturing all bottle components.

Finally, to boost sales, Gustave Leven entrusted Jean Davray, his long-time cohort, with developing Perrier's brand recognition. This association led to one of the most compelling advertising sagas of the century.

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