One sports drink is so in demand that teens are charging each other to pose with empty bottles.
Why? The power of influencers. In this case, former boxing rivals Logan Paul and KSI who, combined, have 40m+ YouTube subscribers.
It’s called Prime
It contains 10% coconut water, appeared in a Super Bowl ad, and is the UFC’s official sports drink. It typically retails for ~$2.40 per bottle and, in 2022, generated $250m in retail sales, per The Washington Post.
But Prime has also become a hard-to-get status symbol that resellers are hawking at high markups. Plus:
- Rowdy shoppers led grocery chain Aldi to limit sales to one of each flavor.
- UK schools have banned Prime to curb children-run black markets.
Interestingly, at press time, it was available on Amazon at… a very regular price.
This all sounds silly…
… but it ain’t new.
Shoes, toys, and other products can become hot commodities — including soft drinks. We previously covered Exotic Pop, a Houston-based soda company that got its start reselling brands touted by hip-hop acts.
Mae Karwowski, CEO and founder of influencer marketing firm Obviously, told WaPo that, in the next decade, she expects “all the biggest brands will be made by creators” because they get what their customers want.
Emma Chamberlain has a growing coffee/tea brand. MrBeast started a burger chain. For Paul and KSI, it’s a beverage Gordon Ramsay compared to “swallowing perfume.”
