Nuun, the hydration-products brand acquired by Nestlé Health Science in 2021, is expanding its audience to all people by promoting hydration as a daily requirement and not just a supplemental concern. The new “But First, Nuun” consumer marketing campaign, which is being rolled out, is educating consumers on the benefits of proactive hydration. Hydration is being positioned as an everyday need, rather than just a need to replenish, recover, or rehydrate after exercising. Nuun changed the market by separating the concept of electrolyte replacement and carbohydrates, opening the door to hydration beverages without a lot of extra sugar. Nuun has formulated its products with just 1 g of sugar, which is all that’s needed to aid electrolyte absorption. This allows Nuun to set itself apart from other higher-sugar hydration products on the market. Nuun’s electrolyte product gives consumers the flexibility to consume carbohydrates in other ways. Consumers can eat a nutrition bar or a banana to boost carbohydrates and leave Nuun to just hydration.
Nestlé’s Nuun brand introduces new mix-in powder to position hydration product as food, not a supplement
Nestlé Health Science acquired the Nuun hydration-products brand in 2021, known for its just-add-to-water electrolyte effervescent tablets that help keep consumers hydrated. Recently, Nuun rolled out its newest offering, a mix-in powder for its flagship Nuun Sport Hydration product, at the Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim, CA.
According to Anthony Iannello, Nuun’s director of brand marketing, the mix-in powder is more convenient than the effervescent tablets as it comes in stick packs that let customers carry around single servings at a time. Moreover, the mix-in powder is being categorized as a food supplement, rather than a supplement, to make stronger claims around hydration as a daily necessity.
Nuun’s director of product development, Vishal Patel, further explained that by classifying it as a food, the company can make more compliant claims around it being a drink mix for hydration and water. The product is positioned as a food rather than a supplement, much like other sports powders.
Patel further clarified that supplements are meant to supplement one’s diet and are not necessary. However, food and hydration are necessities that should be part of an individual’s daily intake. Hence, Nuun’s mix-in powder is positioned as a food supplement rather than a supplement.
The powder’s proper positioning as a food product aims to communicate to consumers that hydration is essential, not just an added supplement to their diet. Nuun’s new mix-in powder helps customers maintain daily proactive hydration, which is critical for their overall health.
Nuun’s mix-in powder will provide customers with an easier way to keep themselves hydrated regularly. With its convenient packaging, easy-to-mix powder formula, and its positioning as a food product, Nuun’s newest offering is a significant step towards making hydration a daily necessity, much like food.
Nuun emphasizes the importance of proactive hydration as a daily need, expands its audience beyond sports enthusiasts
Nuun, known for its electrolyte effervescent tablets that help keep consumers hydrated, is introducing a new “But First, Nuun” consumer marketing campaign to educate consumers on the benefits of proactive hydration. By portraying hydration as a daily requirement and not just a supplemental concern, Nuun aims to make hydration a need state for everyone, not just sports enthusiasts.
Anthony Iannello, Nuun’s director of brand marketing, explained that proactive hydration is essential and that it is necessary to make hydration a daily need state. The company’s new “electrolyte drink mix” or mix-in powder, for instance, is being positioned as a food supplement rather than a supplement, allowing the brand to make stronger claims around hydration as a daily necessity.
The hydration category has undergone significant changes over the years, and Nuun sees it as more than just sports drinks. Nuun views hydration as “functional hydration,” which has grown exponentially and straddles more than one aisle of the store. Retailers are still trying to find the right place to sell it.
Functional hydration benefits the entire market, according to Iannello. The rising awareness of functional hydration will benefit a brand like Nuun. The “But First, Nuun” campaign and the core insight of proactive hydration are exciting opportunities for Nuun to occupy a white space and help consumers reshape their perception of hydration as a daily need state and a daily habit.
With the growing consumer attention to health and wellness, hydration has come to the forefront as the number-one health and wellness strategy for 2023. Reports suggest that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, and many people report experiencing headaches or grogginess due to a lack of hydration. As a result, Nuun is trying to educate consumers on the benefits of proactive hydration, rather than reactive hydration that only replenishes, recovers, or rehydrates after exercise.
Nuun’s marketing campaign is a departure from how hydration products have been traditionally marketed. Typically, hydration has been positioned as seasonal or occasional, or as electrolytes for post-exercise. However, Nuun wants to communicate to consumers that daily, proactive hydration is the optimal way to view the need state for hydration. Nuun’s new “But First, Nuun” campaign aims to spread the message of proactive hydration and promote the benefits of functional hydration to benefit the entire market.
Nuun pioneers electrolyte products with less sugar, based on clinical research
Nuun has distinguished itself from other sports drinks on the market by developing an effective electrolyte product with a small amount of carbohydrate to activate electrolyte absorption, instead of enormous amounts of sugar. According to Anthony Iannello, director of brand marketing at Nuun, the sports drinks category was traditionally built on an optimal formula that included carbohydrates in addition to electrolytes.
But an effective electrolyte product does not need a large amount of sugar; it just needs a small amount of carbohydrate to activate the electrolytes’ absorption and make them useful in the body. Nuun has done clinical research over the past 10 years to identify what it believes is the most effective ratio of electrolytes and sugar. Its products are formulated with just 1 g of sugar, which Nuun believes is all that’s needed to aid electrolyte absorption.
Glucose aids absorption by speeding it up, according to Vishal Patel, Nuun’s director of product development. In the absence of sugar, electrolytes will absorb passively, but when a small amount of sugar is added, it activates a mechanism that turns passive absorption into active absorption. Patel believes that just 1 g of sugar is all that’s needed to activate the mechanism, which speeds things up.
Less sugar also benefits consumers who may experience gastrointestinal issues when drinking overly sugary products. Nuun touts its products as containing 90% less sugar than the leading electrolyte drink mix on the market. This has allowed Nuun to set itself apart from other higher-sugar hydration products, opening the door to hydration beverages without a lot of extra sugar.
Nuun’s electrolyte product gives consumers flexibility
Nuun’s electrolyte product gives consumers the flexibility to consume carbohydrates in other ways, according to Vishal Patel, Nuun’s director of product development. Consumers can eat a nutrition bar or a banana to boost carbohydrates, and leave Nuun to just hydration. The option of a product that focuses mainly on electrolytes and not carbohydrates gives consumers more choices, allowing them to take Nuun for electrolytes and then consume carbohydrates in other ways.
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