Bode Joint Health

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16 oz PET
BevNET Review: Like its hibiscus flavored counterpart, BODE’s Citrus Mangosteen flavor is billed as a “Joint Health” product, thanks to the product’s use of a full day’s supply of glucosamine and chondrotin sulfate. From a flavor perspective, their Citrus Mangosteen formulation is one that’s both tart and sour, to the point of inducing a fair amount of lip smacking when you drink it. Still, it’s pretty pleasant, especially since they’ve done a great job of executing a sugar and stevia sweetener blend that has natural sweetness and almost no aftertaste. And of course, this keeps the calories to 40 per bottle, making this a nice mid-calorie option based on flavor alone. Packaging is a stock 16 oz. PET bottle, which has been given a few simple looking illustrations around a large BODE logo. However, we think they’ve chosen a text color that’s too light. The result is that the flavor name is a bit easy for the eye to glance over. Nit picking aside, this is probably the brand’s best flavor, both in terms of taste and the market potential (and readiness) for the function.Reviewed on: 2/11/2010

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16 oz PET
BevNET Review: Of the lineup, this product has the function that we think is the most readily marketable, thanks to the generally understood benefits of glucosamine. However, they’ve paired it with hibiscus, which is certainly not the most marketable flavor choice. From a taste perspective, it’s good, with a mellow hibiscus flavor that’s much lighter than more heavy hibiscus flavored drinks, such as Jamaica. The product is sweetened with evaporated cane juice and stevia, which keeps the calories to only 40 per bottle. Fortunately, the stevia goes largely unnoticed, with minimal aftertaste. Functionally, the product contains vitamins, glucosamine, and chondrotin sulfate, with the latter two fueling the product’s joint health claims. Packaging is clean, with simple illustrations and a restrained choice of colors. We like how they’ve kept the front panel clean and easy to read, but there are two things that we’re concerned about regarding the general positioning of the product. First, the flavor, hibiscus, which is going to be a tough sell against the countless similarly colored berry flavored drinks that are competing with this product. That being said, we think that BODE’s Citrus Mangosteen Joint Formulation will easily beat this one. Second, however, is the name BODE, which will take more to understand than the few seconds a consumer has when panning the cooler or beverage aisle. Overall, this definitely seems like BODE’s most marketable function, but their choice of flavor pairing might limit its potential. Reviewed on: 2/11/2010

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16 oz PET
BevNET Review: Making a drink that promotes heart health is certainly something that seems like it has market potential, and that’s just what Bode (pronounced “body”) is trying to accomplish with this acai and blueberry flavored drink. It uses a mixture of evaporated cane juice and stevia for its sweeteners, resulting in a fairly natural level of sweetness and not too much in the way of aftertaste. The fruit flavors are enjoyable, with a pleasant acai flavor (thanks to the use of acai juice) and a pleasant note of blueberry to the finish. Functionally, the product promotes acai as its heart healthy ingredient, but glances over the fact that the drink has other marketable ingredients, such as D-ribose and green tea extract. This seems risky, especially since a straight up acai juice product would likely beat this one. On the outside, they’ve made a nice looking design on a stock 16 ounce bottle, but we’re not convinced that consumers will get the product’s name. In addition, selling different functions that are each paired with a different flavor is a strategy that hasn’t proven itself in the marketplace yet, so, if nothing else, this is another challenge for the brand. Overall, we like the flavor and like the product’s positioning, but we think they need to do a better job of explaining what the drink is all about and how it does it. Reviewed on: 2/11/2010

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16 oz PET
BevNET Review: Of their initial lineup, BODE’s Passionfruit Mango flavored “Memory” formulation is the only one that doesn’t use added sugar, opting instead for xylitol, stevia, and the natural sugars in juice. Unfortunately, this yields a formulation with significantly more aftertaste than the rest of the product line. That’s a shame, especially since the product’s fruit flavor clearly benefits from the use of passionfruit juice. However, the added mango flavoring seems a bit lost, and doesn’t really help the formulation. Functionally, the product explains that added ginkgo biloba and D-ribose are there for “memory” purposes, although the connection between the ingredients falters once you look at the nutrition panel and see that there’s loads more to this product than just that. Overall, this product seems like one that’s conceptually good, but it needs work in flavor and in how it connects the dots for the consumer. Reviewed on: 2/11/2010

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16 oz PET
BevNET Review: BODE’s “Mom” is a ginger and lime flavored drink for expecting and nursing mothers. From our perspective, this is a product that will be very hard to make succeed, with only a niche segment of the market falling into its target demographic. Plus, companies that generally go into this space are specializing exclusively on it, so this unfortunately seems like a flavor that BODE should drop from its line. Reviewed on: 2/11/2010