If you live in Austin and frequent the hike and bike trails, odds are you have run into or seen FreeWater's team handing out water to promote their unique platform.

FreeWater provides eco-friendly and BPA-free water at no cost to consumers, with advertisers fronting the bill through the ads hosted on the packaging of the water. The goal of FreeWater is to end the global water crisis; to do that, 10 cents from every water purchased is donated to charitable organizations.

This approach of funding water through advertising brings a unique opportunity and appeals to companies that desire to connect with conscious consumers. Consumers are looking for sustainable and charitable opportunities to align with their purchases. The value of social impact on economic spending is a phenomenon that has taken over human consumption by storm and increased brand loyalty for younger generations.

FreeWater Keeps Austin Weird (And Innovative)

Josh Cliffords, Founder and CEO of FreeWater, came up with the idea after volunteering with refugees and seeing the water scarcity issues they faced. According to FreeWater's press release, 800 million people across the globe lack access to safe drinking water, and 47% of the global population live in areas that experience water scarcity at least one month out of the year.

Clifford's platform is ingenious. Think about it; everyone drinks water, and companies are chomping at the bit for an advertising medium that promotes social good and taps into consumers in a unique way. FreeWater allows conscious consumers to enjoy high-quality water while furthering the mission of solving the global water crisis, one beverage at a time. It's a win-win for both advertisers and consumers.

"FreeWater is a paradigm-shifting philanthropic ad agency that uses premium spring water in aluminum bottles and paper cartons as a new type of media and e-commerce platform. Our packaging is a literal blank canvas, and advertisers can print just about anything as long as it isn't harmful, hateful, or fake news," Cliffords said. "Through the use of QR codes, you can connect anything on the internet, which includes websites, videos, shopping, news, downloads, social media, Augmented Reality, and much more. Most importantly, 10 cents per beverage is donated to charity to build water wells for people in need. We only need 10% of Americans to choose FreeWater so we can solve the global water crisis permanently."

FreeWater is only the beginning. Josh Cliffords plans to roll out Amazon 2.0, "The Free Amazon," allowing for a plethora of products and mediums for advertisers to leverage, further expanding the market for conscious consumers to get involved with the mission of solving the global water crisis.