From having shoppers fighting over bottles and selling for thousands of pounds on eBay to being sold in Tesco for 31p, how and why did Prime Hydration go from boom to bust so quickly?
The answer it seems is manifold.
Prime Hydration, the energy drink brand established by YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul, was designed not as is the traditional case to meet a gap in the market, but more as a vanity project. KSI and Logan Paul have spent years building their own brands and fanbases, and as such the development of Prime Hydration was perhaps viewed as the next step in cementing their fans’ loyalty.
As such, hype and advertising for the drink was done on TikTok and other digital platforms, where KSI and Logan Paul have an established following, as supermarkets caught onto the chatter around the drink and the possible benefits to them they decided to get involved. These supermarkets decided to order in bulk to meet the hot new thing trend they were sensing.
However, KSI and Logan Paul were aware that demand from their fanbases was so high that they could be selective with where they decided to stock their product. This led to Prime Hydration being stocked in limited stores, driving up its price and thus its desirability. Leading to scenes reminiscent of the COVID pandemic of long queues. All this led to £26.8m of sales in 2023.
Such a strategy was not however sustainable.
Some commentators such as Paul Bailey, brand strategy director at agency Halo, have argued that KSI and Paul weren’t really interested in developing Prime for the long term. Instead, what they wanted was to capture interest for a short period of time, make money and embellish their own personal brands before cutting their losses.
As such, he believes, the drop in sales-reported by The Grocer to be around £12.8m as of 2024-will not impact them too much as they ‘care more for their own brands than the drink’s brand.’
Jon Evans, chief customer officer of System1, agrees with Bailey, and believes that this short termist marketing strategy alongside supermarkets wanting to latch onto the hot new trend is the reason for why sales of Prime have dropped so quickly. “Supermarkets are desperate to stock the hot new thing, and what usually happens is the hot new thing launches far too early, when there isn’t a consumer base yet, or they’ve not got a proper strategy in place. Initially sales might be high but they always, always fall. Then the next year there’s another hot new thing and we see the cycle repeat.”
So, what can other companies learn from the example of Prime Hydration?
Know who your consumer base is and have a long term marketing strategy in place. Don’t go chasing the hot new thing.
Vivek Rajkhowa 
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