This is a water bottle that makes ordinary water taste like a beverage. This cool idea originated from the graduation thesis of two students, Neuroscience meets Design, allowing them to sell $160 million in three years.
Now, let’s take a look at how the product works: When you drink water, the flavor Pods release scent molecules, which travel to your brain through your nose. This “tricks” your brain into thinking you’re drinking a flavored beverage, even though it’s just plain water.
Where did the idea come from？
We spent 1.5 months writing the thesis and then about 1.5 years developing the prototype. During that time, we hand-crafted different flavored scent pods and tested them with friends, repeatedly refining which bottle shape worked best.
To ensure the product’s safety, my friend Fabian, a food science major, tested it in his master’s thesis. The results confirmed its feasibility for mass production. Later, my friends Jannis and Simon joined to help bring the product to life.
Aggressive Investment in Production
Looking back, scaling up to 80,000 units was a risky move. We hadn’t done market research, and had no idea whether the product would actually sell. If I could do it all over again, I would be more cautious.
Thankfully, the market responded well to our product. We went on to receive €1 million in investment from well-known investors Ralf Dümmel and Frank Thelen on the German pitch show Die Höhle der Löwen. We scored a €40 million Series B in 2021, with Pepsi on board.
Infringement cost us €1 Billion
Once a revolutionary product hits the market, it’s inevitable to avoid copycats. After securing €1 million in funding, we spent nearly €500,000 on patents and trademark applications, and even signed NDAs with suppliers. But knock-offs are still a huge headache. In 2023, there were over 10,000 fake product listings, costing us nearly €1 billion in both economic loss and brand damage. To tackle this, here’s what we did:
How we split the marketing budget?
At first, we opted for a B2B model and took our prototype to grocery retailers, marketplaces, hardware stores, and even tailor shops. Eventually, we convinced a distributor.
But then, we realized the future was all about D2C (direct-to-consumer) and online marketing. By going direct, we could talk to consumers, know what they liked, and focus on precision marketing. This is how we divided our marketing budget:
- 45% Influence marketing
- 20% Youtube ads
- 30% TikTok & Meta(Facebook/Ins) ads
- 10% PR
45% went into collaborating with influencers to create creative content and build our brand. They’re great at showing what the product does and getting people hooked on products.
30% was spent on TikTok and Meta ads, where we’ve seen great engagement.
20% went to YouTube ads, targeting our core audience of 8-40 years old. PR took up about 10%, including press releases.
Influencer marketing in Italy was a huge success. Our 2022 sales reached €159 million, with Italy contributing 1/3 of this figure. We dug into what European Gen Z liked and partnered with influencers to create cool unboxing videos and viral entertainment-focused content.
A successful business requires more than just a great idea; it needs to be commercially viable. But we don’t recommend going all-in based on belief alone. Testing the market with small orders first is a safer approach. Even so, their strategy for sales channels, copyright management, and online marketing was truly insightful.
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