What is it? The Evian Palace bottle. It comes in three pieces. First, a metal base with the embossed Evian logo that sits on a table (at exclusive restaurants only) as a suggestion device prior to the arrival of the waiter. Second, the 750ml bottle itself is made of glass-like PVC and is more slender than its mass-market cousin (the Palace design has an embossed Alps logo around its base and downplays the pink and blue Evian logo at its neck). Lastly, waitstaff add a stainless steel pourer on top after removing the regular cap.

The overall effect: The bottle looks like a carafe, sits on its own coaster, and the pourer is designed to slide a stream of water into your glass with as few bubbles as possible. (The restaurant keeps the metal components and recycles the bottle.) Evian will only allow the bottle in establishments where the waitstaff has been properly trained to use it.

Who is buying it: The rich (and the crazy).

Why this is significant: Evian Palace represents yet another attempt by marketers to turn a mundane, unbranded act that usually occurs free of charge into a ritualized "event" that can command a premium. It's the “elite hydration experience” for the contemporary consumer.