HELL Energy looks to tap tech-augmented experiences with AI product for expansion
The global energy drinks market has presented itself as one of the most stable in recent times, registering continued growth over the past five-year period while many other drinks industries have stalled. Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar have maintained their dominant share in the high-performing market …
The global energy drinks market has presented itself as one of the most stable in recent times, registering continued growth over the past five-year period while many other drinks industries have stalled. Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar have maintained their dominant share in the high-performing market at the global level over the past decade, resisting disruptive new entrants for the most part of the period. However, the big exception to this has been HELL Energy, which is now aiming to tap consumers’ growing interest in tech-augmented experiences, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Ayoub Khalil, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Since its launch in the early 2000s, HELL Energy has established itself as the market leader in eastern Europe and more significantly found itself as the major player in India recently. It is now looking for continued growth from launches in high growth potential economies. India’s growth, especially in terms of disposable income, remains solid with economic growth being revised upwards to a solid 6.44 % in 20231, while eastern European countries are also showing good signs despite recent stagnation.”
With its distinctive commitment to technology, HELL Energy has now embarked on a new AI drink, which it presents as being entirely made across every part of its value chain by artificial intelligence (AI). This is a unique step to ride the trend of a new fascination with tech-augmented experiences, a trend evidenced by a survey of GlobalData showing how over 86 % of global consumers’ buying choices are shaped by how digitally influenced the product is2.
Khalil adds: “The big question, however, with the release is whether it serves to be more than a marketing ploy or a genuine innovation that draws on AI’s powerful capabilities to produce true value that satisfies nuanced consumer preferences. This question comes in light of the most recent quarter GlobalData survey affirming the general benefits that integrating AI can bring in production with 83 % of surveyed consumers claiming that how much a service is tailored to their preferences and personalities has a positive effect on their purchases2, which is something the new drink states it brings in AI’s ability to analyse vast data to boil down to what consumers exactly want.”
In the broader view of the commercial landscape, the release brings to market an interesting case study for firms in and outside the industry of the benefits that can be brought by involving AI in the production process. Again, such methods are already being leveraged elsewhere without the gimmick of companies naming their products an AI release. The biggest of these examples is how the major player Coca-Cola has moved into this new space with its newly released Y-3000 drink, which it claims to have been developed with the help of AI.
Khalil concludes: “HELL Energy, however, does state that what makes its drink truly AI generated compared to other products is the complete use of AI in everything from packaging to evaluation to marketing elements; where the company needs to be clearer is in how much they’ve been able to completely strip away any subjective human choice in the configuration that every AI system is adjusted with, which still remains undisclosed by the company.”
1GlobalData Database-Economy-Macroeconomic Database updated Jan 2024-India
2GlobalData’s Global Consumer survey published in December 2023 was conducted with 21,000 respondents globally