Gaming lifestyle company 100 Thieves is taking its first steps into the beverage sector with Juvee, a new better-for-you energy drink brand launching online this week.
The “rejuvenating” drink is intended to serve as a better-for-you, anytime energy option with 128 mg of caffeine per 12 oz can, plus B vitamins, taurine, L-theanine, panax ginseng, Vitamin C, zero sugar and 5 calories. Available in Kiwi Strawberry, Watermelon Lime and Tropical Crush flavors, Juvee will retail for $3 per can or $36 for a 12-pack.
“All the [energy drink] newcomers that are emerging have really funneled into the performance energy category,” said Samuel Keene, vice president and general manager of Juvee. “But in between legacy energy drinks and performance energy drinks, there is a really wide open gap for rejuvenating energy drinks for people who are not looking to go crush a gym session, or focus on performance, and an energy drink that’s not tied to the legacy branding of aggressive, aggro, adrenaline-fueled sports, but for people who want to play.”
Founded in 2017 by pro esports champion Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, 100 Thieves produces a line of apparel and sponsors various esports teams for games such as League of Legends, Call of Duty, and Fortnite. The company touts a strong social media presence on platforms like Twitch and has over 1.2 million followers on Instagram and Twitter. The business has raised around $120 million to date and is backed by rap star Drake, Cleveland Cavaliers owner and Quicken Loans chairman Dan Gilbert, among others, and firms like Ludlow Ventures and Green Bay Ventures.
To launch Juvee, Haag recruited Keene, a former Red Bull regional marketing director, to head the project and establish a separate company that could operate under the 100 Thieves umbrella. According to Keene, he first met Haag while building out the energy drink brand’s gaming related marketing, signing him as an esports brand ambassador in 2012.
Keene said that the Juvee brand and product was developed “from the ground up” and is operating as an independent startup with a team of four full time employees with beverage industry experience, including sales, marketing and social media leads.
Although Juvee will be promoted within the 100 Thieves network and aims to similarly tie itself to the gaming community – the parent brand’s esports teams have already begun bringing the drinks to events and will be active in online marketing efforts – Keene noted that Juvee is designed to have a broader appeal with Gen Z consumers from all backgrounds.
While gamer-centric energy brands like G Fuel, GHOST and MTN Dew Game Fuel have gained traction both within and outside the gaming community in recent years, Keene said Juvee is aiming to create a more inclusive brand that can speak to consumers both within and outside the space. He suggested that the bright visual identity and messaging around themes like “play” and “rejuvenation” aim to follow the messaging trend of emerging energy drink companies like Celsius and Alani Nu, which have themselves moved away from the male-focused marketing of older energy brands. He noted that the can was designed in order to “create a brand that wasn’t so binary” and is “inclusive by nature.”
“One of the things Matt said on day one was ‘Build me a drink that 16-year-old Matt would love,’ and that was such an interesting insight, because at first I thought, ‘Well, 16-year-old Matt, that would have been 2003,’” he said. “But really, 16-year-old Matt today is a very complex consumer; they’re intelligent, they’re connected to media every single day, they have a more gender fluid perspective. And so we really started to dig into what is Gen Z and what does a creator-forward drink need?”
In addition to running the parent company, Haag will double as an influencer for Juvee by promoting the brand at esports events and online streams. As well, the company is partnering with additional esports athletes and social media influencers like TikTok star Vinnie Hacker and Twitch streamers Kyedae and Tarik.
Juvee will also have a presence at the upcoming 2022 TwitchCon event in San Diego this week, which attracts around 50,000 attendees, Keene said. In addition to direct-to-consumer sales, the drink is also launching with delivery service Gopuff.
“If we created an energy drink for creators, we wanted to go to the creators and bring it to them so they have an opportunity to try it in their space,” he said.