A year ago, it was impossible to ignore the massive hype surrounding the soft drink Prime, with its colorful bottles and famous creators, YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI, creating long queues outside Danish stores. Back then, prices were sky-high, and so was the demand. But now, a year later, the situation is significantly different. A survey conducted by B.T. in the Danish retail sector shows that interest in Prime has plummeted. From selling 80,000 bottles in a week at Circle K last year, sales have now dropped drastically. “We still sell Prime, but the hype is gone, and sales have declined significantly,” says Kirsten Grumstrup, Communications Manager at Circle K. At Rema 1000 and Dagrofa, they also notice a clear change. “The demand is almost gone, so it seems like that hype is over,” says Jonas Schrøder, Communications Manager at Rema 1000. Morten Vestberg, Communications Director at Dagrofa, adds that customers are now turning to other soft drinks.
The prices of Prime have also taken a dive. From costing up to 150 kroner per bottle when the drink first hit Danish stores, the price is now down to between 25 and 30 kroner. Some places even sell the bottles for as little as one krone. According to Anna-Bertha Heeris Christensen, an assistant professor at CBS and an expert in influencer marketing, the drop in popularity is due to the hype being more about the famous creators than the product itself. “It was actually about being cool as part of their community more than the actual product,” she says. Furthermore, the taste of the drink has not met expectations. “All products have fundamental attributes they must live up to. And a soft drink is easy to replace. If you taste it once and it’s a bad experience, you move on to the next product,” explains Anna-Bertha Heeris Christensen.
It seems that Prime will soon be removed from many store shelves as demand continues to decline, and stores want to get rid of the remaining stock. Only at Salling Group, they still report satisfactory sales, even though prices have also dropped there. It is clear that the once-popular drink has failed to maintain momentum in the long run, and the Danish market is moving on to new alternatives.