Asian-inspired sparkling water brand Sanzo has partnered with former NBA star Jeremy Lin for a new LTO flavor launch – Asian Pear – which is rolling out in retail and online this month.
The launch is timed to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of “Linsanity,” a seven-game winning streak in 2012 during which Lin, the first American of Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, became a breakout star with the New York Knicks, culminating in a famous 38-point, seven-assist game against the Lakers. The hot streak is also being commemorated in a new short HBO documentary, 38 at the Garden, which is out today.
Appropriately, the Asian Pear flavor is selling for $38.38 per 12-pack of 12 oz. cans. The sparkling waters are made with real fruit juice and no added sugar. All profits from the drinks will be donated to the Jeremy Lin Foundation, which supports community programs for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and cross-racial youth.
“I am so, so excited to be teaming up with Sanzo on these custom cans,” Lin said in a press release. “Aligning myself with a company like Sanzo that is dedicated to honoring the stories and flavors of Asian Americans is a huge deal for me. It is even more meaningful that proceeds from the cans are going to the Jeremy Lin Foundation, to support underserved AAPI youth.”
The collaboration marks the third LTO product release by Sanzo, which since its 2019 launch has quickly gained momentum as a minority-owned sparkling water company specializing in Asian fruit flavors like Lychee, Calamansi, Mango and Yuzu Ginger. The two previous LTOs promoted Walt Disney Pictures films with Asian casts and themes, including Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Turning Red.
Those releases featured collectable cans for the brand’s pre-existing Lychee flavor, whereas the Asian Pear flavor is a new innovation which will only be available for the limited release.
Answering questions by email, Sanzo founder and CEO Sandro Roco said the LTO partnerships have been significant towards raising brand awareness and expanding the company’s reach in nationwide retail.
“The impact and execution of these partnerships has evolved quite a bit since the Marvel collaboration,” Roco wrote. “Just 14 months ago, Sanzo was only sold in a few hundred doors and the Marvel cans were sold exclusively direct-to-consumer. With the 10-year anniversary of Linsanity coinciding with the release of the highly-acclaimed HBO documentary ‘38 at the Garden’, we received so much interest from our distribution and retail partners that the majority of the cans are being sold via retail.”
As of February, Sanzo is available in over 2,000 locations and is distributed through DSD partners like LA Distribution and Good Stuff in California and Rainforest Distribution in New York.
“We see this as a win for everyone,” Roco added. “We are using this opportunity to invest deeper in the retail partnerships we are fortunate to have, and the limited edition flavor + timeliness of the [documentary] film allow us to deepen our relationship with our core community and bring new folks in as well.”
Sanzo initially raised a $1.3 million funding round in 2020, including firms like Outbound Ventures, Mana Ventures and Soma Capital, and in February the company closed a $10 million investment led by CircleUp Growth partners with participation from Convivialite Ventures, Semillero Partners, Gold House Ventures and Kaya Ventures.
According to Roco, Lin was directly involved in the development of the product, including the can design. In addition to being personally exciting for Roco – a Filipino-American who noted he grew up playing basketball and remembers the Linsanity era fondly – the collaboration also continues the brand’s mission of supporting and expanding Asian culture in the mainstream.
“Sanzo’s original inspiration was a multitude of watershed cultural moments,” he said. “So much progress has been made in terms of AAPI representation in mainstream culture, but we still have a long way to go. We are excited to play our small role in the evolution of bridging cultures and we are hopeful that more stories, faces, and voices will get the spotlight they deserve.”
Beyond the collaboration with Sanzo, the Linsanity anniversary is also meaningful for Lin, who told the New York Times this week that he had long had an uncomfortable relationship with the word due to the expectations it set for his career and the racially charged nature of the media coverage that followed. However, recognizing the impact his win streak had on young Asian American basketball fans, Lin said he’s come to embrace it, stating “Linsanity has become so much more important and valuable to me.”
For Roco, capturing and expressing that inspiration in the beverage was the most important part of the collaboration.
“Jeremy faced a lot of racial biases in a hyper-competitive league but in doing so, he said to the entire world that no dream is too big to accomplish,” Roco said. “We are honored to work with Jeremy and his team to celebrate this momentous anniversary ten years later. “