I'll admit, the can looked more like you wrapped an energy bar wrapper around an energy drink can. It's relatively unassuming, and a little bland, for my taste. If packaging were the only consideration, I probably wouldn't buy this drink. It's blue, with a wavy thing down the middle. I'm pleased that there's no paragraph inspiring me to go out and conquer the world, or go that extra mile, or reinvent the wheel. They pretty much just repeat the front of the can on the back. The can only encourages me to, "get in the game", which of course, I probably won't do, but it's good that it's there.
I saw the Power Trip Energy Drink Website on the can. Quite honestly, I usually never even look at the company's website. After reading this review, you'll see why.
I was disappointed to see that, as do most companies that lack any creativity in their marketing department, they are plugging the drink, almost exclusively with a pretty face, and a partially exposed set of breasts. In fact, the front page of the website has only 2 grainy/illegible pictures of the can, and the only time Power Trip is even mentioned (most notably without even the mention of it being an "energy drink", merely a beverage) is in copyright/trademark information. The rest of the page is dedicated to Firefox (approximately 6% of the useable space), screen resolution information (approximately 3% of the useable space), completely unused real estate (60%+), and then about 30% for Olivia, who apparently is the official spokesmodel for "P.T." (I'm assuming I'm supposed to be intimately familiar enough with Power Trip to refer to it as "P.T.").
Anyway, as opposed to joining the mailing list to win free product, I can enter to win a chance to talk to Olivia. I can imagine how that conversation would go.
Olivia: "Is anyone there?"
Some Dude: "Yeah...ur pretty. a/s/l?"
Olivia: "Thanks"
Some Dude: "Ur hair is pretty too."
Olivia: "Well thanks again, what do you do?"
Some Dude: "I ride motocross, and live off my inheritance. For fun, I rock climb, when I'm not illegal street racing. The rest of the time, I mostly party and dance at clubs, or on my yacht. What about u?"
Olivia: "That sounds exciting. I'm an integral part of pushing P.T. out the door."
Some Dude: "That's cool, I'm glad I'm not a model anymore ;)"
Olivia: "You were a model?"
Some Dude: "Mostly in Europe, u probably wouldn't have seen my stuff. That was a long time ago though, before I got that part in 'Braveheart'"
Olivia: "Wow, you're an actor too? What is 'Braveheart'?"
Some Dude: "The Mel Gibson movie?"
Olivia: "Oh, is that the crazy old cult guy that married Joey from Dawson's Creek?"
Some Dude: "No, that's Tom Cruise"
Olivia: "Dawson's Creek was awesome, that was my favorite show when I was 9."
Some Dude: "Hey, I've gtg, my 15 year old chat friend's parents just went out of town, and I need to ride over to her house, go inside with a bottle of wine, and make sure she's ok."
Olivia: "TTYL xoxo"
Some Dude: "Can I get ur number?"
Ok, so despite the fact that Power Trip's marketing department is clearly the same group that promoted "The Adventures of Pluto Nash", the drink actually is awesome in all other respects, but you wouldn't know that from any of the marketing. Interestingly, a great deal of the website's main page (not the Olivia-saturated flash/no flash page, but the actual "content") touts Doug Stuart's wealth of "brand management" experience, and notes Pepsi and Canada Dry as his proving grounds. I think it's notable that neither of these companies has yet made any lasting or meaningful impact in the energy drink market. He does mention they are going to explore "packaging enhancements", looking at the cans, I probably would have done that before sending it out the door. After Doug's bio (which is clearly of paramount importance), they finally talk about the energy drink...for 2 full sentences. Lastly, Power Trip's website is one of the very aggravating ones that resizes your browser window from "maximized" to "very large but not maximized and slightly moved toward the bottom left" periodically when you click on certain links.
As the Stig said, this drink is likely the best tasting sugar free energy drink on the market, but will you ever drink it? Probably not, because I just don't see it having shelf appeal. I'd equate this to Rush! Energy Lite, a great product, reasonable taste, no calories, and even low in sodium resulting in a thirst-quenching experience. Nearly 3 years ago, we touted it as such, but like Power Trip 0, the packaging is all wrong, everything about it looks gimmicky.
Does it work? Absolutely, I think the ingredient specs look awesome, and it was so tasty, I guzzled it down in no time flat. I was energized, and I'd pit it against any other 16oz. drink on the market. The price is even acceptable. Would I buy it at the store? No. I'm just never going to walk to a refrigerator in a convenience store, pick this product up, and make my way to the counter. This is one of the few drinks, Nature's Nitro 2 Go, Jugular Energy Drink, ...Lost, and Who's Your Daddy Energy Drink being a few of the others, which I'm adversely affected in my decision-making to purchase because of the packaging.
Power Trip "0" Sugar Free Energy Drink tastes awesome. This is, in my opinion the best tasting sugar free energy drink I've ever tasted. After a big gulp, it does have a little of that "ocean water up my nose" sodium burn, but the threat of shark attack is next to 0. It has a light and refreshing citrus flavor, the drink is a pleasant blueish color, which magically doesn't stain your teeth. Lastly, and most importantly, there's no artificial sweetener aftertaste.
It performs well in the way of energy as well. I felt pretty good all the day long, without this elusive "crash" that I never experience with any energy drinks anyway. As is frequently the case, when I drink it on an empty stomach, my bowels are disturbed like eating a bag of Olestra Doritos.
We acquired this drink for $2/each, but we've seen prices as low as $1.50 each when you Buy Power Trip at Amazon. I think it's well worth the $2 price, but is an exceptional value at $1.50.