Background
In August 2018 PepsiCo bought SodaStream for $3.2 billion, and with it a way to sell a drink without selling the bottle. SodaStream Professional took that idea to the places people spend their day: offices, college campuses and airports.
The engagement
From 2018 to the commercial launch in fall 2020, Megsoft engineers worked as part of PepsiCo's North American Beverage team. They improved the shared libraries the division used across its cross-platform apps and helped build reusable components for its new consumer app, SodaStream Connect.
The system
Three parts worked as one: a dispenser that poured still or sparkling water with the flavor, fizz and temperature each person chose; a reusable bottle with its own QR code; and the app that tied the two to a person.
What it replaced
The dispenser was meant to take the place of the vending machine and its single-use bottles, refilling a person's own bottle to their taste.
The challenge
A refill station is simple. A refill station that knows whose bottle is under the spout, pours their drink the way they like it and keeps count of the water and the bottles saved is not.
The problem was not the water. It was identity and memory: the app had to link a bottle to a person, carry that person's choices to any machine and keep their history, on iOS and Android.
A bottle that signs you in
Each reusable bottle carried a QR code that linked it to one person's account.
A drink made to order
Flavor, sparkling level and temperature, chosen in the app and remembered for the next pour.
Hands off the machine
The 2020 model could be used without touching it: the pour started from the phone.
A daily goal
Water intake and plastic bottles saved, counted automatically against a hydration goal.
Approach and solution
Megsoft's role was engineering capacity inside PepsiCo's own team, on the code the app was built from.
Inside the team
Megsoft engineers worked as part of PepsiCo's North American Beverage team, from the first components in 2018 through the launch in 2020.
Shared foundation
They improved the shared libraries the division used across its cross-platform apps, the code those apps had in common.
Reusable components
They helped build reusable components for SodaStream Connect, the division's new consumer app.
Through the launch
The work continued until SodaStream Professional reached workplaces, campuses and airports in fall 2020.
Solution highlights
What the app did for the person holding the bottle.
Link a bottle
Scanning a bottle's QR code once added it to the person's account, and the bottle signed them in at the dispenser.
Build a drink
Flavor, sparkling level and temperature, saved as a favorite for the next pour.
Pour without touching
A personal code in the app, or the one on the bottle, started the pour at the machine.
Track the day
Water intake counted against a daily hydration goal, with the last pour and the drink history.
See the impact
A running total of the single-use plastic bottles each person had saved.
Results
SodaStream Professional and its app launched in fall 2020, in workplaces, on college campuses and in airports.
By August 2021 the dispensers were at William & Mary, the College of the Holy Cross and a high school in Dana Point, California, with enhancements such as electrolytes and vitamin B. The system the app belonged to, dispenser, app and QR-coded bottle together, received a 2021 ADC Awards Merit for sustainable product design, credited to PepsiCo Design & Innovation.
| What changed | Before | With SodaStream Connect | What it meant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Getting a drink | A single-use bottle or can from a vending machine | A refill in the person's own bottle, poured to their taste | Fewer single-use bottles at work and on campus |
| Being recognized | No link between a drink and a person | A QR code on the bottle or in the app | Any dispenser knew whose drink it was pouring |
| Choosing the drink | Whatever the machine was stocked with | Flavor, sparkling level and temperature, saved as favorites | The same drink at any machine |
| Keeping count | No record of water or bottles | Water intake against a daily goal, and bottles saved to date | Hydration and impact people could see |
SodaStream Professional offers a unique way for consumers to personalize great-tasting hydration and reduce single-use packaging at the same time.
Scott Finlow, Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo Foodservice, in the June 2020 launch announcement
Where SodaStream Connect stands today
An app that did its job
SodaStream Connect is no longer listed in the U.S. App Store. In its time it turned a dispenser into a service that knew each person by their bottle, and counted the single-use bottles each of them avoided.
Megsoft's part was the one it plays for large companies: engineers who join the client's team, work in its code and stay through the launch.
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