“The energy drink category came out of nowhere,” said John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest. “It’s been a pleasant surprise for the industry.”

Crave Energy Drink is poised to take it’s own energy drink market share in – and in short order – but how can that be?

How is it that a nutritional company like Vitamark, International with a from-out-of-nowhere product like Crave Energy Drink can come onto the energy drink market scene and make such a big dent? The actual size of the dent remains to be seen, but early indications suggest that it’s going to be crater-sized.

• It takes a super hot market.
• It takes advertising … edgy advertising.
• It takes an effective distribution system.

Vitamark has all these things in place.

BusinessWeek.com said:

“…edgy marketing means little in the beverage industry without solid distribution. “None of these companies will be able to go [nationwide] overnight,” says John Craven, editor-in-chief of BevNet.com. A company that wants to sell its product in all 50 states needs between 250 and 300 distributors, he says. Building those relationships remains a challenge for small companies…”

Basically, having a built-in marketing sales force that embraces on-going training for new reps, is Vitamark’s ace in the hole. And an International one at that.

They have the edgy marketing and they have a ready and willing sales force that is already familiar with ‘word of mouth’ and ‘relationship marketing’ – a significant number of teams are also implementing Web 2.0 marketing practices, which is the perfect arena to attract the younger segment of the energy drink market.

See, truck drivers are always looking for something that will give them that extra bit of energy they need for the long hours they pull on the road. Most truckers – especially long haul OTR truck drivers will immediately see the benefits of using Crave Energy Drink..

There are hundreds of energy drinks out there – but Crave Energy Drink, which keeps you driving when you otherwise might have to take some down time, has the following 5 points going for it:

1) No Crash (and no jitters) – Crave Energy Drink, while it won’t help if you’re accident prone, it will give you a longer, sustained burst in energy so you can get to your next delivery point.

You won’t have the jitters or that low and tired feeling that comes after so many energy drinks out on the market today. It’s possible that this is in part because of the low sugar content. Sugar crashes often leave you more worn out than you started – kind defeats the purpose, eh?

2) Fewer Bathroom Breaks – Crave Energy Drink save you downtime for pit stops. Yeah there’s always that ‘bottle option’, but yuck. Because crave comes in a powdered to-go packet, you can choose to mix it with as much or as little liquid as you want to. It’s totally up to you. That also means no more bulky cans either, right?

3) On-the-Go Packaging – Crave Energy Drink’s to-go packet speaks for itself. A weeks worth of Crave (even if you drink many servings per day) takes up less space than a six-pack … cab space is prime real estate! Crave let’s you take every advantage of every square inch.

4) Low Calories = A Healthier Choice – Crave Energy Drink will not add to your waistline. Let’s face it, you know as well as I do what 10+hours/day (oop, don’t tell your log book sitting on your butt driving can do to your belly. Crave has less than 1/2gram of sugar per serving and just 9 tiny calories. So it’s low in calories AND a being a low-glycemic alternative makes it a decent energy drink choice for diabetics.

5) Works F-A-S-T – No matter how tired you are, Crave Energy Drink’s exclusive Enzact 77k nutrient delivery formula speeds the energy jolt to your system! And you know how important that can be when you’re dead-beat tired and still have another 100 miles to haul.

Here’s to stayin’ awake on those long hauls!

Make it a great day,

Andrea

Now there’s a perfectly ridiculous question.

It reminds me of a small disagreement I had with my step-father over pizza a few weeks back. He wanted to share his coke with my 1yo son and when I adamantly rejected that idea, he wanted to debate the idea … “what harm could a little soda do?”.

Now whether he was just being a misbehaving grandparent or whether he really didn’t see the harm .. I dunno, but either way I quickly played my “I’m the mom and I have the final word” card and that was the end of the discussion.

It’s not that I think a sip of soda (caffeinated or not) is gonna ruin him or anything… it’s more of a “why go there?” kinda thing. I mean, why expose anyone to junk food of any kind (oop, he had his first sucker while out trick-or-treating last night — my bad ;-p) before it’s time.

So, should I be offering my 5yo Crave Energy Drink? Of course not.

Here’s an article on caffeine that I appreciate.

Not only are there WAY better choices for her, but “WHY go there?” — why expose anyone to caffeinated drinks before they have a reason to need to have a ‘pick me up’??

And trust me, she’s so set on go from the moment her little eyes pop open in the morning to when she collapses in a heap on her bed in the evening — we don’t want her any more energetic.

My 14yo, well there’s a different story.

Not that I’ll encourage regular use of any caffeinated drink (she’s a Dr. Pepper fan and I ride her about that as it is), but I do think that this is a time in her life when she’s going to be trying all sorts of new things … in fact her school bus buddy started carrying Red Bulls for them in the mornings last year — nipped that in the bud …

For her, I’ll take the position — ‘everything in moderation’ (as long as it’s legal, of course) and be a ‘moderate’ example for her to follow.

Crave Energy Drink will likely become a household staple (it’s the ‘better bad choice’, remember? <grin>) — but just like coffee, reserved for the adults and nearly adults.

Will you be serving your 5yo energy drinks?

Happy boundary setting

Andrea

So today, a list of energy drink ingredients that is not specific to Crave Energy Drink or any other energy drink … as soon as I have the Crave packaging in hand, I’ll update with a new post and link it here.

Common Energy Drink Ingredients:

Sweetners – All energy drinks have sugars or artificial sugars as one or more of their ingredients. Standard sweetner options include:

• Glucose – A simple sugar that is a major energy source for all cellular and bodily functions.
• Sucrose – table sugar
• Aspartame – A sugar substitute, formed from aspartic acid, that is said to be 180 times sweeter than sugar.
• Splenda - (aka. sucralose) – An intensely sweet, heat-stable derivative of sucrose that contains no calories.
• Acesulfame potassium – a low-calorie sweetener approved for use in the United States in 1988.

Stimulants -

• Caffeine – often touted as “equal to a cup of coffee” — which tells us next to nothing, of course because cups of coffee just like coffee itself varies greatly from product to product (wondering why full disclosure is not required)
• Guarana – Made from the seeds of a plant native to Brazil, guarana speeds up the brain’s activity and is used to promote weight loss due to its stimulant and diuretic effect. Guarana contains 3% to 5% caffeine.
• Yerba maté - A stimulant beverage similar to tea, very popular in South America, brewed from the dried leaves and stemlets of a member of the holly family. Also contains some caffeine.

Amino Acids – amino acids are often referred to as the building blocks of proteins.

• Taurine is a common one. Taurine is an amino acid that was first discovered in bulls. It is naturally occurring in humans and deserves it’s own post.
• L-Carnitine – An amino acid usually created by your liver and kidneys which helps raise metabolism and energy levels.

B-Group Vitamins – B-6, B-1, B-2 in particular – Known for increasing energy levels; B vitamins are needed to convert food into energy.

Other misc. nutritional additives …. varies from energy drink to energy drink.

I’m looking forward to sharing where Crave Energy Drink falls in this list Also planning a page with links to energy drink review sites — there are some great ones out there!

Happy Energy Drinking!

Andrea

I’m also doing “Pre Lit Christmas Trees” if I can get my small, yet busy brain wrapped around this process in time to hit the sales weeks that that would matter. I think I can, I think I can

I’ve had a couple of weeks now to figure out what direction to take this Crave Energy Drink blog in.

• Should I be narrow in focus?
• Should I go wider and do something in the “Healthy Energy Drink” arena — do I even want to go there with the nutritional aspect?
• Or do I just want to sift and sort my way to a happy Crave customer base of whatever measure.

I mean do I really care why people order this stuff?

Actually, I really don’t.

Whatever insanity it is that’s driving this multi-billion (yes that’s Billion with a B) dollar market, I am more than happy to oblige and sell it month after month to the people who want it.

Coming from a background of nutritionals, the biggest hump I personally had to get over was the fact that Vitamark’s Crave Energy drink has caffeine in it. I’ll have to get up on (or maybe not :-p) my the “why you should avoid caffeine” soapbox one day. Later …

Meanwhile, I’ve managed to make peace with the fact that I know more than a few people in their 80′s+ who feed a caffeine vice daily and have somehow managed to live to tell the tale … lol … now there’s reality check for my nutritional minded self.

Still I couldn’t resist this suggestive domain name for my marketing:

www.ABetterBadChoice.com

ROFLOL — it still cracks me up!

You’ll wanna go there and see if it’s still a live link to my “Crave Energy Testers Wanted” site — if not, that means that the launch is over, I’ve gotten enough testimonials and you should go ahead and order yourself a case.

There’s a satisfaction guarantee, plus you’ll get a call from me <grin> — dunno whether that’s a bonus or not … but hey, that’s the way it is.

Oh what fun this is gonna be!

I appreciate you

Andrea