"It gives them one more year to evaluate him as a candidate," said Michael C. Bellas, the chairman and chief executive of Beverage Marketing.

"AmBev is the prize," said Michael C. Bellas, the chairman and chief executive of Beverage Marketing.

"Turner would be a huge positive," said Michael Bellas, chief executive of Beverage Marketing, an industry consulting company and data base.

Michael C. Bellas, chairman of Beverage Marketing, suggested the new ads hit "the sweet spot for imports, co-ed social occasions."

Still, Perrier's sales in the United States climbed to $76.2 million in 2000, according to Beverage Marketing.

"That really was a surprise," said Michael Bellas of Beverage Marketing, an industry consulting group.

"This company was a trend-setter," said Michael Bellas, chief executive of Beverage Marketing, a trade group.

Over the last year, tea sales have increased by 7.7 percent, said Helen Berry, a vice president of Beverage Marketing, a research company in New York.

The premium imported bottled waters constituted only 5.7 percent of the 1988 market, according to Beverage Marketing.

Coke is the United States market leader, with about 43 percent, to Pepsi's 31 percent, according to Beverage Marketing, a trade publication.