ALEXANDRIA, Va. – On this week’s episode of Convenience Matters, “H2O to Go,” NACS hosts Jeff Lenard and Carolyn Schnare sat down with Aaron Lichtig, vice president of signature initiatives at the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), to talk about free materials retailers can use to grow sales of bottled water.

The Drink Up campaign encourages Americans to drink more water, more often. With convenience stores selling approximately 50% of the country’s single-serve bottled water, NACS has made available marketing collateral and point of sale materials through a digital hub to help drive sales of bottled water in stores. NACS is an official partner of Drink Up and has several cooler and floor stickers available for retailers to download for use in stores.

There is scientific evidence backing the use of functional messaging to increase sales. In one study, a retailer’s sales of bottled water increased 11% on top of already growing beverage sales. A case study on that subject will be released by NACS on Wednesday, January 31.

“The Drink Up campaign offers NACS members access to a number of high-quality marketing materials that have proven time and time again to grow sales of bottled water. As Americans’ thirst for bottled water continues to increase, help guide their shopping when they visit your coolers,” says Schnare.

Each week a new Convenience Matters episode is released. The weekly podcast can be downloaded on iTunes, Google Play Music and Stitcher and at www.conveniencematters.com. Episodes have been downloaded by listeners in more than 95 countries more than 35,000 times.