In the consumer packaged goods space, what often comes up must come down. We'll show you how the laws of financial and cultural gravity applied to Prime, an influencer-delivered beverage, launched in 2022 as a collaboration between Logan Paul and KSI, two of the most prominent creators on social media today. Prime, a beverage launched in 2022, boasted sales of over $1.2 billion in 2023, with lines forming around the block in the United States and the United Kingdom. Unfortunately for the brand, that demand has been unsustainable, with sales cratering upwards of 70% in 2025.
This type of brand story aligns perfectly with one of the most important uses of social listening data: trendspotting and trend analysis (identifying global commercial movements before they take off or recognizing when they've had their moment). Using Prime's stunning rise and staggering fall, we'll guide you through how to utilize social listening data analyzed by Infegy Starscape to identify social growth, detect troubling signs of brand doubts, and explain why brands and products fail, so your company can avoid making the same mistakes.
To examine how Prime fell, we'll first look at how Prime took off. Figure 1 shows post volume (e.g., how often people posted about Prime over time from January 2021 through July 2025. When analyzing trends, we typically examine patterns both before the trend began and after it ended to gain a comprehensive understanding.
Prime launched in early 2022. Although there was early demand for the drink, we didn't see staggering post volume until a few months later. Interestingly, for the brand, we saw significant fluctuations. Typically, when this see-sawing post volume occurs, it indicates a much more volatile, viral sensation, which suggests that the post volume growth won't be durable, unlike other, more consistent growth trajectories.
Often, when evaluating trends, understanding why the trend took off (or declined) is more important than the actual amplitude of the post volume swing.
Figure 2: Prime Influencer Narrative (January 2021 through July 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.
To understand the rise of Prime's stature in the beverage marketplace, we turned to Infegy's Narratives and Infegy's AI Summarization tool (Figure 2). Our AI detected that the influencer partnership between KSI and Paul launched a product to a rabid, younger, male fanbase who desperately wanted to purchase their beverage.
To corroborate our hypothesis about the audience, we analyzed age and gender distribution using Infegy's demographic tools. We found an incredibly young age distribution with more than 50% of the underlying post volume coming from users under the age of 20 (Figure 3). Moreover, we found that upwards of 83% of the conversation originated from male-identified accounts.
Figure 3: Age Distribution Associated with Prime (January 2021-July 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.
Figure 4: Gender Distribution Associated with Prime (January 2021-July 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.
Now that we've examined the indicators, let's explore why Prime took off (influencer-fueled growth and a laser focus on the tween male audience), and then discuss why Prime collapsed.
Prime's rapid decline was fueled by controversies that shifted the brand from a youth sensation to a parental concern. While kids and teens drove online buzz, parents were the ones making the actual purchases—and their trust eroded quickly.
One major issue centered on PFAS contamination in Prime Energy. A lawsuit alleged the drinks contained harmful "forever chemicals," sparking alarm across social platforms. Though it appeared in only 1.6% of posts, the conversation was overwhelmingly negative, with many calling the product "toxic sludge." For parents already wary of Logan Paul, this served as validation of deeper concerns.
Figure 5: Infegy Narrative Around Prime PFAS Contamination
Another widespread issue was Prime Energy's high caffeine content, 200 milligrams per can, becoming a national talking point after Senator Chuck Schumer called on the FDA to investigate, citing risks to children and teens. The product was also recalled in Canada for violating caffeine limits. These headlines reached parents, many of whom responded by withdrawing their support and spending from the brand.
Figure 6: Infegy Narrative Around Caffeine Content in Prime
To better understand shifts in consumer behavior, we analyzed Infegy's Intent to Purchase and Intent to Churn themes, which detect conversations about buying or abandoning a product. Younger users were more likely to express interest in purchasing Prime, while older users, particularly those over age 22, were more likely to discuss walking away from the brand. This trend suggests that parents, who control most of the actual spending, were increasingly opting out, contributing to Prime's decline in sales.
Figure 7: Intent To Purchase/Churn Distribution Over Age (January 2021-July 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.
Prime's journey from viral sensation to sharp decline is a case study in how social media-fueled hype can drive early success, but not guarantee lasting impact. Through Infegy Starscape, we identified early signs of both explosive growth and eventual erosion: volatile engagement patterns, youth-dominated interests, and mounting parental skepticism.
For brands, especially in the consumer goods sector, staying ahead means not only monitoring the volume of buzz but also the direction of trust and purchasing intent. By paying close attention to these signals, companies can better anticipate when a product is peaking, when it's at risk, and how to respond before public perception turns, and sales follow.