PRIME: The Champion Marketplace

 

PRIME: the sports hydration drink of champions. PRIME was created by Youtubers Logan Paul and JJ Olatunji who goes by the name KSI. What exactly is PRIME and why is it so popular? At its core, PRIME is a sports hydration drink that prides itself on its stellar online marketing. According to Jaymi McCann of inews.co.uk, "Prime is a ‘hydration’ drink that comes in a variety of flavors and is hugely popular due to effective online marketing. Flavors include Meta Moon, Ice Pop, Blue Raspberry, Tropical Punch, Lemon Lime, Orange, and Grape. It contains 10 percent coconut water, 2g of sugar, 25 calories, 250 mg of BCAAs (which enhances muscle growth), 830 mg of electrolytes, as well as vitamins and antioxidants. It was created by Prime Hydration, which was founded by KSI whose real name is JJ Olatunji and fellow YouTuber Logan Paul. They have a combined YouTube following of almost 40 million people. The pair were previously rivals but have promoted the drink as what happens when people come together."¹ The drink is primarily for athletes but can be enjoyed by non-athletes as well. The real kicker is that even though non-athletes can enjoy the drink due to its nutritional value, the drink has no benefit unless you are an athlete, or you use the drink as pre-workout or post-workout fuel. Manish Pandey of BBC goes on to further explain whether or not PRIME is good for you. He states, "For expert dietitian and sports nutritionist Dr. Linia Patel, the drinks contain the ingredients you'd expect. It's got coconut water, which provides sugar but not as much as "traditional sports drinks". Prime also contains electrolytes - minerals that can be lost from the body through sweating." If you're exercising super hard, then absolutely [there's a place for it]. But I'd say for the majority of us, we don't need a special drink like this one," says Dr. Patel."² Both authors make valid points. The problem that most American consumers face especially when it comes to drinks like this one is that we see something we like and automatically buy it. Do not get me wrong, I highly recommend this drink, but before purchasing it, you have to do the research. Research is key when it comes to what you put in your body.

The average American wastes money on sports drinks like PRIME and treat the drink like coffee, meaning they consume it without thinking about what the benefits are. PRIME is a sports drink meaning that it should be consumed before or after any athletic activity. If you sit around your computer playing Minecraft or even Dungeons and Dragons and drink PRIME, there is no benefit because the electrolytes are not hitting your brain or other key parts of your body. In that case, the only thing you are working out is your fingers, you are not giving your other muscles the ability to develop and grow. I drink PRIME regularly but now after doing the research, I am treating more as my pre-workout and in some post-workout fuel. I will not benefit from the electrolytes and other key aspects of the drink if I am not willing to work out my brain and my other key muscles. 

Logan Paul and KSI are both very popular Internet personalities and PRIME is as successful as it is because of these two men and their marketing and business strategies. PRIME works off of audience engagement just like YouTube. To further explain the correlation between PRIME and YouTube's algorithms, let's look at an article from the website The Conversation. The article states "Audience engagement” describes the combination of consumption (such as watching videos) and participation (such as commenting on, liking, and sharing videos) by YouTube viewers. Establishing audience engagement is key for YouTubers to become popular and develop popular commercial products, such as Prime. To engage their audiences, YouTubers use a variety of strategies. Two of the most significant are “interaction” and “self-disclosure”. YouTubers interact with their viewers in different ways, from asking and responding to viewers comments to cocreating activities, such as seeking new video ideas."³ The article further goes on to state that "During the Prime drink launch, other YouTubers such as Markiplier (34 million subscribers) were invited to taste the drink in videos. Their influence may have triggered YouTube’s algorithm to further recommend Prime-related content to viewers, enhancing the online visibility of the drink, even for YouTube users who are not fans of Paul and KSI. Through their audience engagement strategies and savvy use of YouTube’s algorithmic networks, Logan Paul and KSI have given Prime a great chance of commercial success. Combining this with other marketing strategies such as limiting the supply to create demand has created a hugely popular brand."⁴ Think about that. What that means is that consumption and participation make up the algorithm and you can look at that from both sides of the coin. At the end of the day, this drink is a smart business decision because young people gravitate towards new ideas and even new forms of food and drink consumption if they see their favorite celebrity either created or sponsored a certain product.

There is a marketplace for different foods and drinks. Sports drinks in particular are a wide market because not everyone wants to be drinking Gatorade or Powerade, as great as those drinks are. They want variety. Since PRIME was created by two very popular Internet personalities fans have gravitated towards the drink. PRIME is a great business because it can be a part of so many different organizations. Logan and KSI just signed a deal with the UFC making Prime the official drink of UFC. Even two of their athletes UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya and UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski have endorsed the drink. Social media is a fan of Prime as well with sports fans drinking the drink and even athletes from the NBA to the NFL and even WWE posting photos of themselves with the drink. That is what makes Prime successful at the end of the day: the drink is part of so many different sports markets. Those markets have millions and in the case of WWE billions of fans which makes Prime profitable because the drink is able to be purchased by more and more consumers and then those consumers then tell their friends and then word of mouth causes the value and marketability of Prime to go up. The markets for all item consumers buy has its value but let's face it: sports drinks nowadays is the biggest market because people need food and drinks to live, and sports drinks provide hydration. Word of mouth is important because you can add promotion to a certain product and then that product like Prime will become more marketable. If you ask me, many new creations in the food and drink markets should follow the model of Prime. If there is one thing to take away from everything I mentioned, it is this: know how to market a product in a way where you can reach fans of multiple different sports and companies that way those fans are willing to spread the word about your product. 

1. McCann, J. (2023, January 20). The Viral “hydration drink” prime launched by KSI and Logan Paul explained. inews.co.uk. https://inews.co.uk/news/prime-energy-drink-why-so-popular-hydration-ksi-logan-paul-explained-2079873 

2. Pandey, M. (2023, April 18). Prime drink: How Ksi and Logan Paul made it so popular. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-64145389 

3.Zhang, H. (2023, March 17). Prime: A YouTuber expert explains how Logan Paul and KSI’s drink became so popular. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/prime-a-youtuber-expert-explains-how-logan-paul-and-ksis-drink-became-so-popular-201792 

4.Zhang, H. (2023, March 17). Prime: A YouTuber expert explains how Logan Paul and KSI’s drink became so popular. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/prime-a-youtuber-expert-explains-how-logan-paul-and-ksis-drink-became-so-popular-201792