Haven’t we heard this before? Back in 2007, then Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony promptly threw his name into the energy drink foray by partnering with a Chicago based media group to put out the now defunct C1.5 Extreme Energy Drink.
The drink was touted as tasting like a mixture of Red Bull and Mountain Dew, and featured flavors like Gorilla Juice, Monster Khaos, and Kronik Entourage. With flavors with names like that and a failed distribution deal, no wonder the idea was scrapped almost immediately after it got off the ground.
But in today’s World where athletes are no longer just athletes, but entrepreneurs, Carmelo has decided to give another try at the energy drink market by signing on and investing heavily in PowerCoco, a new sports drink based on coconut water.
It’s no coincidence that Anthony, who has a latino heritage, has decided to corner the market on coconut based energy drinks since it has a huge following in the latino community. Walk by any corner bodega in New York, Philly, or Miami and prominently featured is coconut flavored water by Goya, VitaCoco, or Zico. Even Coke and Pepsi have joined in on the coconut water craze over the past few years.
The one edge that coconut water will have over rival sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade is that it contains less sugar. Technically, coconut water is pure sugar, so why would a company add more? PowerCoco boast not only less sugar, but less calories, no artificial sweeteners, no cholesterol, and has more than 6 times the amount of Pottasium per serving than the average sports drink, which is key in helping replenish lost nutrients during exercise.
PowerCoco, which began in 2010, comes in 4 flavors(Lemon-Lime, Tangerine, Grape, and Tropical Berry) and has begun popping up in Duane Read Drug Stores and Walgreens across the New York metro area and plans on expanding Worldwide in short time.
How Carmelo Anthony factors into PowerCoco is obviously a sizeable investment, giving him vast input in the product’s development as Executive Vice President of the brand. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s one of the biggest sports stars in America’s biggest media market NYC, which bode well in advertising.
Let’s give Melo’s new business venture a chance, it has to be better than his aforementioned Gorilla Juice, La La’s Full Court Wedding on VH1, or his first full season as a New York Knick……..
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
