Adaptogenic beverage startup Droplet accused PepsiCo of “corporate plagiarism” in an Instagram post this weekend, claiming the conglomerate’s new Soulboost brand “blatantly” lifts its concept and brand identity. PepsiCo has denied all allegations.
PepsiCo announced Soulboost on May 5, a new line of enhanced sparkling waters made with real fruit juice and available in two functional varieties: Lift, made with panax ginseng, and Ease, made with L-theanine. Featuring colorful packaging and marketing focused around “vibes” and “unwind” use occasions, the brand aims to give PepsiCo a place in the fast-growing functional beverage segment.
While Soulboost could have the potential to grow consumer awareness of the category, California-based startup Droplet was not amused by the launch.
Posting on Instagram Saturday, Droplet claims that Soulboost borrows heavily from its design cues, including fonts, as well as phrasing from ad copy such as the use of the slogan “look good and feel good.” Both products are functional sparkling drinks made with fruit juice and also feature passion fruit flavored SKUs.
“We will stand tall knowing we’ll always have the power to create, not copy, and we hope that through raising awareness about our experience with PepsiCo, megacorps will be forced to consider the negative repercussions of appropriating IP from POC companies before doing this again,” Droplet said in its post.
The allegations were later amplified by Diet Prada, an Instagram account and fashion industry watchdog group with over 2.7 million followers that routinely calls out and criticizes brands for copying and plagiarism.
The plagiarism claim is the second clash between PepsiCo and Droplet, which was founded in 2019 under the name Dewdrop. According to Droplet co-founder and CEO Celeste Perez, in January 2020, PepsiCo’s legal team contacted the company — which was still in the trademark review process — claiming that the Dewdrop name infringed on PepsiCo’s ownership of the “MTN Dew” and “Dew” brands. In August 2020, PepsiCo filed a notice of opposition and threatened legal action against the startup.
According to Perez, PepsiCo demanded that Dewdrop pull all branded cans from the market, destroy all existing packaging and remove all mentions of the name from the internet. Though she attempted to negotiate with PepsiCo’s legal team, Perez said the company was forced to make a quick decision to rebrand.
“We had a production coming up just days later, so the pivot was brutal and costly,” she said. “We chose the name Droplet as it still had a connection to our original intention, to honor the Filipino mythology of dewdrops being healing.”
In February, a PepsiCo employee attempted to purchase Droplet products from the brand’s website, which raised alarms for the startup’s founders who were concerned it was for competitive market research, according to the Instagram post.
Posting yesterday from the Soulboost Instagram account, PepsiCo denied the allegations and noted that the brand has been in development since the summer of 2019 and filed for a trademark that July. The post included early concepts for the packaging and branding and noted that they were shared with retailers in October 2019. The first production run for the brand occurred in January 2021 in preparation for the launch this month.
As well, the branding and imagery for Soulboost was not designed in-house, the company said, but was outsourced to creative agency Badgers & Winters, which licensed existing artwork from Los Angeles-based designer Marleigh Culver, a PepsiCo spokesperson told BevNET.
The previous trademark dispute over the Dewdrop name, PepsiCo said, is entirely unrelated to the creation of Soulboost.
“There is simply no merit to any claim that Soulboost (including fonts, flavors or copy) is inspired by any other competing product,” the company stated. “Soulboost was built on consumer insights and the accelerating trend of functional products. We are confident there is a lot of space in the beverage world for a range of products and brands, and hope Soulboost can be a growth catalyst for the entire category.”
PepsiCo is not currently in contact with Droplet and has no current plans to “change course” on Soulboost’s design or go-to-market strategy, a spokesperson told BevNET. There is no ongoing litigation between the companies.
PepsiCo reached out directly to Perez over the weekend but has not received a response, the spokesperson said. Perez said she has not spoken to anyone from PepsiCo.
Droplet does not currently plan to take legal action against PepsiCo as the company does not have the funds for a costly legal case. However, Perez said she would “never say never” to potential action, but calling it a “David and Goliath situation” she warned that “the threat of that alone is enough to destroy a business.”
“We’re not new to the food and beverage industry, and yes, this is to be expected to a certain extent,” she said. “But there are other options, like a joint venture, an investment, an acquisition that they could have entertained before doing what they did.”
However, despite the controversy, Perez said Droplet has received widespread support from consumers in the days since it went public with its allegations. She said the company has experienced exponential growth “and awareness from the highest levels” and plans to begin hiring new employees immediately.