With all this hype, you would think Prime tastes like a million bucks

Up until 1 May, when it was sold at Checkers for just less than R40, I had no idea what Prime was. Neither did I know about the hydration and energy drink’s owners, former boxing rivals Logan Paul and KSI, real name Olajide William Olatunji.

It all started with my 15-year-old twin boys, Sihle and Mpumi, asking their mother for the world’s most expensive energy drink, with prices topping out at about £3 000 (about R70 000) a bottle on sites such as eBay.

Paul and KSI have over 40 million YouTube followers between them but, still, why is their drink so expensive and why are these darn teenagers so into it?

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Controversy is the pair’s most trusted tool, as a number of their social media posts often involve their friends and family’s personal details, and of course, to young people, this means they will produce the world’s best hydration drink.

With all this hype, you would think that with flavours such as meta moon, ice pop, blue raspberry, tropical punch, lemon lime and orange and grape, Prime tastes like a million bucks.

My family grabbed four different flavours at our local retailer. It tastes like diluted cough syrup, with a hint of scented fabric softener.

It seems like most of the Twitterati who camped outside shops as if they were voting for the first time in 1994 were also not too impressed.

WATCH: SA tweens and teens queue up as Prime energy drink hits shelves

Some said it tastes like weak cordial mixed with Savanna Dry, while some referred to it as Drink-O-Pop with a touch of Thabo Bester.

From a business side of things, kudos to the controversial influencers who have mastered the concept of scarcity marketing. They capitalised on their target market’s fomo (fear of missing out).

@thecitizen_news For more information visit Citizen.co.za (Proper hygiene protocol was followed) #fyp #foryou #prime #primehydration #loganpaul #thecitizennews #thecitizenlifestyle #southafrica #primeenergydrink ♬ original sound – The Citizen

They used this psychological technique to starve the market by releasing a limited amount of the drink and therefore increasing demand, perceived value and sales.

In all of this, it was only after I sipped all four flavours of Prime in our fridge that the penny finally dropped: Eskom has been using scarcity marketing, possibly even without knowing it.

ALSO READ: Did you pay R500 for a sip of Prime? Prepare to kick yourself

During long weekends, they provide electricity for all of us but at all other times, they starve us. Of course, this then increases demand and Megawatt Park uses this to ask for price hikes, courtesy of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.