The energy drink segment is the ‘Tokyo subway station at rush hour’ segment of the beverage industry.
Beverage companies fight for retail shelf space in this incredibly overcrowded market the way the 3rd of each animal species would fight for space on Noah’s Ark.
But what about ‘the calm and relaxing nighttime slowly drift off to sleep’ segment of the beverage world? In these high stress, high anxiety COVID times, could there be room for potential growth in this less crowded market? Pepsi thinks so!
Enter Pepsi’s latest product offering: Driftwell!
Originally developed in an internal 2019 pitch competition, the COVID world has Pepsi Driftwell being fast-tracked to market in under a year.
Driftwell, a beverage that aims to help consumers relax and fall asleep, will utilize 200 milligrams L-theanine, which is found in tea and is used to ease anxiety and improve mental function. Driftwell also has a “spa-water inspired flavor” of BlackBerry and lavender. (Heck, I feel calmer just typing this.)
Driftwell falls into what PepsiCo calls an “emergent” category, which means it could be placed in a variety of places throughout the grocery store, including health and beauty.
Over the counter sleep-aids has been an over $1 Billion dollar a year industry even before all the anxiety and restlessness of COVID concerns infected the world. My personal dentist even mentioned to me that he has seen more cracked teeth from stress induced nighttime grinding in the past 6 months than he had the rest of his career combined.
Driftwell is non-carbonated and doesn’t contain sugar or calories. The 7.5 oz cans will also contain 10% of the daily recommended value of magnesium.
The new product will not be inexpensive however with a 10-pack costing approximately $17.99 per a PepsiCo statement.
(On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I recently signed up for the Amazon subscription service for Mountain Dew Kickstart Orange Citrus and it is AWESOME! A 12 pack dropped off at the door every other Monday! No better way to wake up the morning!)
Pepsi’s plan is to launch Driftwell online this December to generate product awareness and interest with a rollout to the competitive brick ‘n’ mortar shelves in Q1 2021.
Do you plan on giving Pepsi Driftwell a try when it is released to market?
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Geeky Daddy 