Plink!

Plink! editorial direction / Source: Made Thought

AluminiumFood & BeverageGlassNorth AmericaNotplaPackagingPaper

4 MINUTE READ

Sophie Benson

WHAT WE SAY:

One million plastic bottles are purchased every minute globally, and that needs to change, but asking people to give up their favourite drinks wholesale is not a realistic solution. Products that can uphold tastes and habits while removing the impact are how we’ll smooth the path towards a plastic-free future, and that’s what drinks start up Plink! is aiming to do with its flavour sachets.

Working with the motto “You bring the water, we bring the flavour”, Plink! takes plastic bottles out of the equation. A thin layer of lining means the products aren’t 100% plastic-free, so we’ll wait until that’s eliminated before we give this a full endorsement. We do, however, avidly support the new way of thinking Plink! is proposing.

KEY FACTS:

Plink! is encouraging its customers to ditch single-use soft drinks bottles, swapping them for its add-to-water flavour tablets that can be mixed with water at use to transform into an array of fruity, carbonated drinks.
Described as a "bath bomb you can drink", Plink! dissolves in water in 180 seconds and can be used in any vessel that holds water. Notably, a vessel the consumer already owns.
Flavour tablets are housed in sachets, offering a low-packaging alternative to plastic bottles. The box or envelope that the sachets are delivered in is recyclable in the kerbside Paper waste stream. The Aluminium-based sachet is not recyclable in the US, however, it is considered recyclable in the UK, which is not yet a Plink! market.
Each sachet features a one thousandth of an inch thin plastic liner, which the brand says is to stop the aluminium leaching.
Due to the compact, lightweight nature of the sachets, there are transport-related savings. The company says that it takes 10 trucks to deliver the same servings of Coke as it takes to deliver Plink!, based on the premise that many drinks are approximately 90% water.

A ‘just add water’ drink / Source: Plink!

Pomegranate Berry flavour / Source: Plink!

DIVE DEEPER:

480 billion plastic bottles were sold in 2016, a figure which was expected to rise to 583.3 billion by 2021. Less than half of those sold in 2016 were collected for recycling and just 7% were made into new PET bottles. Any more recent figures are based on this projection, rather than newly produced.
According to a report by Oceana, between 20 and 34 billion plastic PET bottles produced by the soft drink industry enter the ocean every year, and alternatives to this take-make-dispose industry are desperately needed.
By providing the flavour, rather than the drink, Plink! offers one answer, and claims to use 99% less material than canned and bottled beverages with its sachets of tablet-formed ingredients.
The Vermont-based company’s flavours are designed to be dissolved in 12 ounces of water. The effervescent juice, launched in 2022, is currently available in three flavours: Watermelon, Pineapple Grapefruit and Pomegranate Berry.
An 18-pack costs USD 22 for a one-off purchase or USD 19.80 on a subscription basis, bringing the price per drink to between USD 1.10 and USD 1.22.
A 12-can multipack of 12 ounces Coca-Cola – a product Plink! often uses as a benchmark – costs USD 6.58, amounting to approximately USD 0.54 per drink, meaning the just-add-water solution does come with an added cost compared to its self-assigned competitor.
Plink! is a low-sugar, low-calorie option. Each serving is 14 calories, containing sodium and potassium electrolytes and 1 gram of sugar. The drink is also dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan, widening the market to as many consumers as possible.
The company, however, is taking the add-to-water concept out of the health and wellness drink silo and introducing it to a wider beverage market, by leading with flavour-first messaging, and spotlighting the environmental benefits of the tablet format.
The product is currently shipped to all zip codes within the US.
In 2022, Plink! became the first tablet-based product to win Bevnet’s New Beverage Showdown.

"Our solution is simple: you simply fill up a glass of water, drop a Plink! in and boom! You make a delicious beverage with 99% less packaging and a fraction of the carbon footprint."

Maxwell Luthy – Co-Founder, Plink! – as quoted in Food Navigator USA

Key Design Considerations:

Selling more than just sustainability

Reduced packaging is one of three marketing points for Plink! Its focus on flavour-first allows for connection with a broader audience, beyond the (relatively small) cohort who make decisions based solely on environmental impact. Ultimately, the biggest impact will come from converting the mass market, and Plink! shows us how.

Eliminating plastic completely

Plink!’s decision to launch a non-recyclable product with a plastic element and a promise to do better is a missed opportunity. Can you turn to innovations such as Notpla to go 100% plastic-free? Or even package the tablets in cardboard or Glass, as is commonly done within the beauty industry? This will align the messaging and product more closely.

Consider cross-branding opportunities

Behaviour change requires as little friction as possible, so being able to reduce impact while sticking with the same brand they’ve always known will be an easy access route for consumers. Can you follow in the footsteps of Soda Stream, which offers Pepsi and 7up among its flavour range?

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Freeze-dried smoothies in NatureFlex compostable film

Hong Kong-based cosmetic packaging manufacturer embracing traditional materials and systems.

Concentrated cubes of flavour for drinking water

Changing the System: how restaurants are weaning themselves off plastic

Plink!

WHAT WE SAY:

KEY FACTS:

DIVE DEEPER:

According to a report by Oceana, between 20 and 34 billion plastic PET bottles produced by the soft drink industry enter the ocean every year, and alternatives to this take-make-dispose industry are desperately needed.

By providing the flavour, rather than the drink, Plink! offers one answer, and claims to use 99% less material than canned and bottled beverages with its sachets of tablet-formed ingredients.

The Vermont-based company’s flavours are designed to be dissolved in 12 ounces of water. The effervescent juice, launched in 2022, is currently available in three flavours: Watermelon, Pineapple Grapefruit and Pomegranate Berry.

An 18-pack costs USD 22 for a one-off purchase or USD 19.80 on a subscription basis, bringing the price per drink to between USD 1.10 and USD 1.22.

A 12-can multipack of 12 ounces Coca-Cola – a product Plink! often uses as a benchmark – costs USD 6.58, amounting to approximately USD 0.54 per drink, meaning the just-add-water solution does come with an added cost compared to its self-assigned competitor.

Plink! is a low-sugar, low-calorie option. Each serving is 14 calories, containing sodium and potassium electrolytes and 1 gram of sugar. The drink is also dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan, widening the market to as many consumers as possible.

The company, however, is taking the add-to-water concept out of the health and wellness drink silo and introducing it to a wider beverage market, by leading with flavour-first messaging, and spotlighting the environmental benefits of the tablet format.

The product is currently shipped to all zip codes within the US.

In 2022, Plink! became the first tablet-based product to win Bevnet’s New Beverage Showdown.

Maxwell Luthy – Co-Founder, Plink! – as quoted in Food Navigator USA

Key Design Considerations:

Selling more than just sustainability

Eliminating plastic completely

Consider cross-branding opportunities

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: