We all know the saying about leading horses to water. Well in this day and age, though beverage makers have given up on the horse market, the human market is hotly contested, and, if you’ll excuse the expression, highly saturated. Beverage makers are relentlessly trying to find new ways to make us buy stuff to drink.
PepsiCo has just launched Drinkfinity, a custom, reusable bottle that comes with flavor pouches that you simply (to borrow a construction from Shake ‘n Bake) insert ‘n squirt. Like the name implies, there are many options to transform your regular water with the flavor, vitamins, and caffeine level of your choice. Does this concept sound familiar? It should. PepsiCo is entering a bit late into the game, as competitors like Mio and SodaStream are already very established.
So is Drinkfinity a bold enough name to take a gulp out of their competitors? Well, it’s anything but bold as “infinity” is such a common naming theme (Xfinity, Infiniti, etc). Because of this I find it a bit cheesy, but not unpalatable—maybe a better adjective than cheesy is unpretentious. It’s slight lack of originality fits with Pepsi’s image as an everyday, friendly, and unpretentious brand.
Would I feel a little bit dorky telling my friends, “Check this out. It’s ‘Drinkfinity!’”? Yes, undoubtedly—I try not to endorse that groan-worthy level of wordplay in my personal life, but as a brand name it isn’t awful. It is a bit long, but to remedy that at least on the packaging, they’ve shortened the name to a D and infinity symbol, which actually looks pretty cool. Still seems like a marathon of a name to say out loud, but luckily if you’re talking about it and sweating from exertion, you probably have ready access to hydration as well.
