With every visit to the US supermarket, there is this moment of complete overwhelm, whether you want butter, chocolate or bread. There is not just butter, chocolate or bread there, but everything in hundreds of variants. One is therefore happy about precise information and is not even surprised when one’s son asks one to bring “Prime” with him, and definitely from the bottle and not from the can. “Prime” is this new hype drink from Logan Paul, he says, you know him. And once again: no can!
It certainly doesn’t do Logan Paul – influencer, YouTube star, new martial artist – an injustice to say that he will do just about anything as long as someone is watching. And that he really jumps on every single sow that’s being herded through the village – and that’s drinks this summer. “The status symbol this summer vacation isn’t an outfit or a toy, it’s this drink that’s being so insanely advertised,” says Chuck Schumer. The Democratic Senate Majority Leader held up a red, white and blue can (flavored Ice Pop) for the cameras as he asked the US Food and Drug Administration to please investigate the drink more closely. At least since then it has also been known why the son wanted a bottle and definitely not a can: “Prime” in bottles does not contain any caffeine, but in cans it contains 200 milligrams, i.e. two and a half times as much as Red Bull and six times as much as Cola.
The unique selling proposition is not the drink, but the celebrity who advertises it
The energy drink market in the USA is Wilder Westen, because the food authority, especially compared to Germany, is a pass-through store where everything is allowed that doesn’t kill you at the first sip. What is so fascinating from a marketing point of view: Hardly anyone knows the difference between “Prime”, Bodyarmor, Electrolit, Vitamin Water, Replenish, Reign, Fast Twitch, Celcius, Ghost, C4 and whatever they are called. It has symbols on it that look sort of fitness (on the Prime bottle: a flexed bicep, a coconut, and a lightning bolt for electrolytes); keywords such as “sugar-free” or “gluten-free” are noted; and they all have celebs marketing it. Paul, for example, made a Tiktok video in which he suggests outfits that go with each Prime bottle. The unique selling point is no longer the drink, but the celebrity who advertises it.
And the plan is working: According to a study by Grand View Research, the $100 billion market for energy drinks is expected to grow by 8.4 percent annually. Many of the products are intentionally hard to get or even sold out, including the “Prime” bottles – the principle of artificial shortages. No wonder young people haggle for it on the schoolyard black market. And Chuck Schumer probably did the “Prime” manufacturers a favor with his warning. Because if there’s one thing youngsters are known for – remember the mid-nineties when Red Bull was still considered dangerous and that’s why it was so popular – it’s that they absolutely want everything they’re said to have shouldn’t have it at all.