Pepsi Drinkfinity and Bubly

Pepsi launched Drinkfinity, a capsule beverage brand, in the U.S. market

By pressing the capsule in the bottle of water, the beverage liquid and water will be mixed into a beverage. This principle is a bit like a soda machine – nothing more than a mix of stock solution and water, hardly any big innovation. However, Drinkfinity is lighter, claiming to be “drinkable” outdoors.

Drinkfinity uses organic sugar. The 12 flavors fall into four categories: 1) the “Charge” series with green coffee, 2) the “Flow” with Vitamin C and Vitamin E, 3) the “Renew” with electrolytes for sporting scenes, 4) and the plants’ Ingredients of “Chill”. It’s low in calories – about 30 to 80 calories per capsule.

One of its major selling points is the use of “superfoods” such as chia seeds, acai or elderflower, etc., or some of the healthier ingredients such as oats, lemongrass and many more.

Drinkfinity is not cheap. Its character water bottle cost about 20 US dollars, four combinations of capsules at about 5.5 to 6 dollars. Just the price of capsules is slightly more expensive than buying soft drinks alone.

Customization

They will also introduce new flavors, as indicated by infinity in their name. Pepsi sets a pretty long-term goal for this product: is to allow consumers to eventually customize the personalized taste of the capsule.

“Drinkfinity is a good new drink that gives busy consumers new experiences for customized drinks,” said Hernan Marina, vice president, PepsiCo Global Innovation. The target consumers for this drink are health-conscious young people-especially those who consider coca-cola as unhealthy and water as tasteless.

The concept of this product was first proposed by Hernan Marina in 2009. And it was tested internally in Brazil as well as within the Pepsi staff in the United States.

Although Drinkfinity is a subsidiary of PepsiCo, it operates independently of the Pepsi North American beverage division system. Because Drinkfinity is on sale online, PepsiCo needs to develop new supply chains, production lines, distribution logistics and recycling mechanisms for this product.

The reason for the introduction of Drinkfinity is because North American consumers may drink less and less such sugary soft drinks. Non-diet soda sales have dropped 25% over the past two decades. In keeping with changes in consumer trends, PepsiCo is promoting the health of its product lines in recent years.

Healthier

A recent example is Pepsi’s sparkling water brand Bubly, which was launched in early February. Bubly is zero calories and without sugar or artificial sweetener. This is another water drink product following the launch of the high-end water LIFEWTR.

“I admit it’s a bit late for us to enter the market for seasoned bubble water,” PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi told analysts at the meeting.

Sparkling water, a low-sugar or sugar-free sparkling water, has been selling well in North America for several years. Coca-Cola last year acquired the bubble water brand Topo Chico. On the other hand, National Beverage’s LaCroix is growing rapidly with annual sales of around 800 million U.S. dollars.

PepsiCo’s revenue in 2017 was approximately $ 63.5 billion, an increase of 1.2%. Organic growth (excluding exchange rate and divestment, the impact of mergers and acquisitions) was 2.3%. Among its several major businesses, North American beverage, which accounted for the largest share of revenue, reported poor performance, with organic revenue plummeting by 2% compared with last year to $ 20.9 billion.

Pepsi said it was affected by bad weather such as hurricanes as well as rising raw material costs. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said North American beverage sales are picking up from the third quarter. In 2018 they will launch new marketing plans for products like PepsiCo and Surf Wave.

(Some information comes from Drinkfinity and Pepsico)