Hydration Platform 2019

Designers: PepsiCo Design & Innovation, PepsiCo, Inc., New York, New York, USA
Manufacturer: PepsiCo, Inc., New York, New York, USA

The hydration platform is a connected ecosystem built to reflect how people drink water today, made up of three core components: a beautifully designed water dispenser, a companion, userfriendly smartphone app, and a reusable bottle tagged with a unique, personal QR code.

Reflecting how people now utilize technology and apps to track and personalize every aspect of their day, this ecosystem allows users to customize their experience by setting their own daily hydration goals and automatically tracks their way to meeting them. Not only can users choose their water flavor, temperature and carbonation level (and save in the app for future pours), but the platform allows people to set their own daily hydration goals and, in the background, automatically tracks their progress against them. It also tallies the plastic bottles each person individually saves by refilling their bottle across the system.

PepsiCo has launched the platform at select workplaces, universities, and hospitality partners where there is the greatest desire to access still and carbonated water and both sustainable and customizable drink options. This is just one example of how PepsiCo is driving growth by developing innovative, engaging equipment to offer the foods and beverages that consumers want.

Today’s conscious consumers want to know how their purchasing decisions will impact them personally – their health, wallets, and routine – and what those choices mean for our planet.

PepsiCo is constantly innovating to better meet changing consumer demands. The core of the hydration platform is its focus on personalization. Delivering choice is always a priority for PepsiCo, but people don’t necessarily think of variety when it comes to water. However, this platform allows many facets of personalization – from the flavor and its intensity to the carbonation level and temperature – offering literally hundreds of options with just a few clicks.

With these insights in mind, we built and unveiled this integrated hydration platform as the latest addition to our portfolio. We’re out to change how people drink water – helping people create new healthy routines and sustainable habits. The new hydration platform is a connected ecosystem that responds to the rise in consumption of low-and-no-sugar drinks as well as heightened focus on plastic's effect on the environment. It’s the latest step in PepsiCo’s Beyond the Bottle efforts, which encompasses ways in which we are delivering great-tasting beverages to consumers without single-use plastic bottles. We’ve developed a consumer experience that is enabled by technology, and as technology advances, we’re able to surprise and delight customers in a way that expands beyond just water.

Nothing should get in the way of simply enjoying great tasting and refreshing water. The platform’s digital user experience is designed to be tech-enabled, but not tech-led, so people can access their favorite drinks by signing-in with their current reusable bottle, and the app allows them to customize or save the beverages they like at any time. The app also tracks how much people pour, enabling hydration tracking to happen in the background without any active effort. The hydration platform introduces a new form of convenience beyond disposable plastic. We offer users something that they can’t get in bottle or can: a customized drink. By setting preferences on intensity of flavor and sparkling as well as temperature, users can get just the drink they want. The intelligent ecosystem will learn what you like and serve your favorite drinks, how you like them, where and when you want them.