Eco-friendly electrolyte tablet brand Plink! is making a splash in the fast-growing hydration market by putting flavor before sustainability – a move that helped double its velocity, expand distribution and outpace sales of legacy competitors by 40–50% in natural grocery stores.
The startup’s success not only highlights a winning strategy for mission-based businesses, but it also reveals the basis for the next wave of growth for the multi-faceted and fragmented hydration market, sales of which market researchers project will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 5% to 10% in the next decade.
Fun plus function
The secret to Plink!’s success so far, according to company Co-founder Max Luthy is that the company is offering consumers what they want: a fizzy, flavorful and fun way to hydrate every day.
“Plink! is an award-winning, fizzy electrolyte tablet. We try to bring joy to hydration,” and position hydration more as a “treat” and “less like a supplement,” he said. “So, everything from our brand to our flavors to the act of ‘Plinking’ and enjoying a Plink! is all about enjoyment, as opposed to sort of pinch your nose and get it down.”
He explained that the wellness industry is “very serious … as it should be,” but that it verges on “dour almost.” He added, modern consumers also want fun and flavorful, as well as treats that they don’t have to feel guilty about – and Plink! checks those boxes.
The rise of everyday hydration
Plink! also stands out from the competition because it was designed for everyday use by anyone – not just for athletes or revelers looking for recovery. This distinction also is a demarcation for what Luthy calls the third wave of hydration beverages.
“We see hydration in three waves,” starting with sports hydration and the launch of Gatorade in the mid-1960s, which focuses on replacing salts lost through sweat, followed by “recovery hydration” for when a consumer is jet-lagged, sick or has a “brutal hangover” and needs a rehydration formula based on recommendations from the World Health Organization, he said.
The third wave – which Plink! is helping to pioneer – is daily hydration. This is for consumers who feel a tad sluggish in the afternoon or have brain fog because they are slightly dehydrated and find a beverage with some – but not a lot – of key electrolytes can help them “perk right back up,” Luthy explained.
Plink!’s distribution strategy
By offering a product that sits in between extreme hydration options and legacy water enhancers, like Kool-Aid and Country Time Lemonade, Plink! was able to carve out space in natural grocery stores that want to offer a curated retail experience with better for you products from up and coming brands.
As a result, Plink! is available at well-known regional grocers including Bristol Farms in Southern California, United Supermarkets in Texas and New Mexico, Central Market locations across Texas, and PCC Community Markets in the Seattle area. It also is in more than 1,100 CVS stores nationwide and select GNC locations.
Balancing mission and consumer-centric concerns
Luthy jokes that Plink! fell into the hydration space by accident, noting that the original idea was to create a more environmentally friendly beverage than other ready-to-drink options in bottles and cans.
But, he explained, the company quickly learned that for a brand to survive it needs to answer a “me” problem – not just a “we” problem.
“What was very exciting to us is that transporting Plink! has 98% fewer carbon emissions than a canned or bottled beverage and used 99% less material,” which is much more sustainable, he said.
“But,” he added, “we realized early on that we were solving a ‘we’ problem – a planetary problem, which is great – but you need to solve a ‘me’ problem, too,” from which individual consumers can benefit directly.
And so, the company leaned into flavor-forward, everyday hydration. But, Luthy said, it continued to supporting sustainability in the background by calling out the benefits of Plink!’s tablet format on boxes and de facto reducing packaging for every Plink! that replaced a canned seltzer or bottled beverage.
Third party certification reinforces Plink!’s solution to consumers’ ‘me’ problem
The power of Plink! also was recently backed by Osmolality Lab Certification, which Luthy says gives the brand confidence in its claims.
The lab tested multiple lots of Plink! to ensure it offered “optimum osmolarity,” which is a ratio of nutrients and ingredients to fluid that allows for efficient absorption, he explained.
“Essentially what they’ve said is if you need rapid hydration, there is an optimum ratio of fluid to Plink!. If you drop two into a glass of water, you hit that optimum osmolality threshold. If you just need daily hydration, then one works,” he said.
He added third-party certification is important in fast-growing categories to distinguish legitimate players from brands that might be coasting on the category’s reputation but not deliver the results consumers want.
What is next for Plink!?
Looking forward, Plink! will continue to lean into new flavors rather than additional functional benefits, said Luthy.
He explained that while he sees room for added benefits, like energy or relaxation alongside hydration, he wants consumers to associate Plink! with enjoyment and fun – which are best generated with flavor innovation.
He also wants to lower Plink!’s price point and create a more accessible trial package to continue to drive trial, which in turn will support velocities and ongoing distribution expansion.
