Walking the floor at Expo West, it would be hard for attendees to miss the heavy focus on hydration. More and more, consumers are aware of how functional hydration products can add to their overall health–beyond athletics. Anthony Iannello, director of brand marketing, Nuun Hydration, said that while the category has exploded in the last couple years, the brand is able to stand out through its proactive positioning.
“The way that we're approaching hydration now is a little bit different than maybe we have historically in terms of thinking about hydration proactively as opposed to reactively. Hydration is a daily needstate for consumers and I think it's always been positioned as a reactive or a seasonal category, but the reality is that hydration is vital for everyday life. And so Nuun is now trying to position hydration as a proactive choice every single day and in that way, we feel it allows us to stand out in a category that is primarily been seen as reactive, you know, about replenishing or replacing or rehydrating, [whereas] Nuun is all about proactively hydrating,” said Iannello.
Vishal Patel, director of product development, Nuun, added that another way Nuun differentiates itself while meeting consumer demand is with less sugar and more science.
“We started in 2004. We were the first company to really separate the carbohydrates and high sugar in electrolytes for hydration,” said Patel. “Electrolytes obviously play such a crucial role in hydration with helping you absorb more fluids, sugar does as well. But what Nuun wanted to do is we wanted to give people the flexibility on fueling and on that carbohydrate source. So we wanted to focus exclusively on hydration–like that's what Nuun is known for. And one thing I've been proud about just through our journey is we stay true to that too, like there's competition everywhere, there's formulations everywhere, but we've really invested heavily over the last 10 years in validating the science, in validating the clinical trials and making sure everything is as a effective and efficacious as we think they can be.”
This summer, Nuun will be expanding its sport line into a new format by launching Nuun Sport in a stick pack format in two flavors.