Driftwell

Launched around September 2020, and quietly discontinued by mid 2022. Driftwell was a functional water beverage intended to help consumers "Unwind your mind."

55% of Americans report experiencing high levels of stress during the day, with 45% sharing that their stress keeps them up at night*. Those numbers have only risen during the pandemic. We wanted to craft a real solution. So, we created Driftwell, a reliable, relaxing beverage crafted with safe ingredients to help people release the weight of their day and settle into a more tranquil state of mind, rest assured. Created hand-in-hand with our nutrition sciences team, Driftwell contains 200 milligrams of L-theanine, a scientifically supported ingredient that helps promote relaxation, paired with soothing blackberry and lavender flavors.

Originally, Driftwell was conceived as part of the Next Big Idea contest, a “Shark Tank”-like competition at PepsiCo where associates around the world pitch their wildest and most innovative concepts. One of more than 600 entries, Driftwell was the winning concept from a marketing group in Canada. Members of the team worked directly with Emily and her innovation team to develop their idea into the drink that just landed on store shelves this January — in less than one year, a record for a beverage launch at PepsiCo.

Driftwell is also considered a functional beverage, a category of drinks that have benefits beyond just refreshment. Getting there, she says, “required many hours of passionate talk about what will make people feel the most relaxed.” The team created elaborate mood boards for the design before settling on the perfect soothing blue palette. Finding a name required no shortage of creative alchemy. And of course, there was the time spent collaborating with R&D to decide what should go in the can.