Hydration Key Bumps
Vol. 1, No. 15
This edition of Sunday Bunch is dedicated to Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Richard Simmons, Bob Newhart, and Shannen Doherty (pictured with the late Luke Perry), all of whom we lost this week.
Rest in peace, beloved characters from my youth.
🚰 Thirst Things First
A better you is just a small packet of powder away.
It’s a sales pitch that has worked well for diet shakes and drug dealers, now the billion-dollar hydration and supplements markets are embracing it with open, well-toned arms.
Analysts project that the global electrolyte mix market will reach almost $25 billion by 2030. What started with consumers foregoing Gatorade for lower-sugar options converged with the growth of nootropics and alternative supplements to change the hydration category, creating opportunity for everyone from Pedialyte to BodyArmor and eventually Prime. Add in a younger consumer set that has been quick to embrace new delivery mechanisms (from gummies to vapes and Zyn) and you can see how we arrived on the powdery slopes of 2024.
This week, the founder of Everlane (The Gap for slightly-wealthier white people) introduced his new business: Magna, an electrolyte beverage brand with an emphasis on magnesium.
Magna joins a growing list of competitors that includes Liquid I.V. (acquired by Unilever in 2020) and LMNT, which has built their brand on the contrarian assertion that salt–the most common form of electrolyte–is actually good for you.
The past year has already brought offerings from beverage brands like Liquid Death, Prime, Ghost, and Four Loko (marketed under the street name ‘angel dust’). You can expect just about every hydration and energy drink brand to follow suit within the next year.
Do they work? Each has their own formula, surely some deliver on more of their claims than others. There are surely more natural ways to get your nutrients than a pack of magic dust from a factory. But, if the alternative is an energy drink you’d pull out of a store cooler, then chances are the powder pack is at worst a push, if not an upgrade. They’re also easier to store, reduce your waste footprint and plastic usage, and are (usually) cheaper than the comparable bottled or canned alternative.
Beyond the individual benefit, the potential collective upside is huge: They don’t spoil quickly, limiting food waste. They remove the need for bottles and cans and packing, meaning the scale of their adoption has a direct and sizable impact on plastic usage. They reduce costs related to shipping and stocking heavy liquids.
The future may just be powdered Brawndo. All we are is salty dust in the wind.
Editor’s Note: Lime LMNT and some tequila makes a killer margarita. Thank you Dr. Chief for the tip.
ELSEWHERE
🏀 LeBron, Team USA hold off South Sudan in a pre-Olympic thriller
Imagine if it was a unified Sudan playing.
👟 Nike Has Filed a $60M USD Lawsuit Against The Shoe Surgeon
Source: @thesurgeon
Suing one of your strongest brand advocates is certainly one comeback strategy.
💰 Is Jeff Bezos buying the Celtics?
Bezos with Robert Kraft, Meek Mill and Michael Rubin at Super Bowl LIII
I don’t think Bezos really wants to own a team–he also reportedly considered the Commanders–there just aren’t many others who can even afford to browse the atelier in the new NFL and NBA owner stratosphere.
So when the amateur helicopter pilot and Amazon founder sells a few billion in stock, people can’t help but speculate maybe that was just a trip to the ATM.
If history is any indicator, he’s actually sending in his M&A people to do “due diligence” and then he’ll just take those learnings and build a private-label team.
🎰 Las Vegas NBA Team Set to Be Most Expensive US Sports Franchise
Actually, maybe Bezos will take the Prime Day discount on the Celtics. Seems like a steal versus paying the estimated $7 billion that it’s projected an NBA expansion team in Vegas is going to cost some ragtag group of scrappy investors.
“Having grown up in and around Texas, I’m aware there are vast parts of America that have been underserved in terms of movies that they want to see. You sort of have New York and Los Angeles making the decisions about what gets made, but there’s a whole lot more audience out there you need to think about.”
$80 million in week one at the box office (60% higher than projected) would seem to indicate Powell was onto something.
🐕🦺 Galloway 2028?
Looking at entrepreneur, author, podcaster, and NYU professor Scott Galloway’s proposed framework for the problems facing young people–young men, in particular–he’s starting to sound more and more like a candidate (or thinktank) laying out his campaign platform.
Ditch the Comic Sans-esque font and this feels a lot like a campaign platform
🏊♂️ Pool stocks are plunging
Too early to comment on potential long-term impact to the lazy river sector.
🩶 Tiny Japanese Startup Is Turning ‘Her’ AI Dating Into Reality
🌭 The Kansas City Royals’ New K-Taco
Practically speaking, how do you consume this?
✅ Hot dog
✅ Cheeseburger quesadilla
✅ Brisket, fries, lettuce and onion
✅ Sriracha Cracker Jack 816 Sauce
✅ 816 Sauce
According to the Royals, it offers ‘a taste of everything the stadium has to offer.’ Including the defibrillator.1
Thank you for reading today. I also want to give a shout-out to Steve, Colin, Nels, Hortense, and Jeff (whose favorite movie coincidentally happens to be the 1995 movie Powder), all of whom provided essential contributions to today’s edition.
Have a lovely Sunday.
Cheers,
KYLE
1 - Editor’s Note: We’re not planning to end every issue with American gutbombs and a sodium count in the six digits, but we make no promises.