There’s a new “prime” entering the energy drink category.
Coach Prime, aka pro football Hall of Famer Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, has entered caffeinated drinks as a minority investor and new face of the Redcon1 brand.
The Boca Raton, Florida-based energy drink and sports supplement maker announced today that Sanders is now a part owner of the company and will be an ambassador for the brand. The partnership is expected to help Redcon1 build awareness and grow its distribution using Sanders, currently head coach of the University of Colorado Boulder, as its figurehead.
Terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.
Along with increased marketing activity centered around Sanders, Redcon1 is working on a new product called “Primetime Punch” which will be followed by other launches specific to its new celebrity owner later in the year. The brand is also hoping that Sanders’ clout will help open doors within the University of Colorado Boulder community.
Founded in 2016, Redcon1 has gained traction with bodybuilders and active armed service members for its workout supplements, protein bars and shakes.
Its branding is centered around the armed forces from its name — the code for full alert status (Readiness Condition 1) — to SKU names like Black Ops, Clusterbomb and GI Juice, among others. The company also donates a portion of its profits to the Redcon1 Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2020 which provides financial support to U.S. military families who have experienced hardship.
The company has three main beverage lines: its MRE RTD protein shakes, the Total War pre-workout products and a 9-SKU line of canned energy drinks. Recently, the sports nutrition brand has been putting more resources into growing its RTD distribution.
In August, former Bang Energy COO Gene Bukovi was appointed as Redcon1’s new chief growth and operations officer. Though the brand has a strong presence in gyms and specialty sports nutrition stores like GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe, Bukovi has been working to expand Redcon1’s retail footprint in convenience and grocery channels.
“There’s about 290 distributors that [Bukovi] has targeted in the U.S.,” said Redcon1 founder and CEO Aaron Singerman. “Of that 290, we’re currently sitting in about 60. We want to get to 98% of that list.”
An electrifying dual-sport pro athlete during his peak years in the 1990s, Sanders, a Florida native who shot to fame at Florida State University, remains an outspoken and influential presence in his new role as an ambitious head football coach. His sideline exploits are the subject of a streaming series on Amazon Prime (Coach Prime), while Buffaloes games have proven a major draw for TV audiences.
With the news that Sanders was joining the brand, Bukovi has already been able to lock in six new DSD partners who had otherwise been hesitant to take the brand on, Singerman told BevNET. “[Sanders] is such a known entity. He’s going to expand the awareness of the brand significantly.”
Connecting with the brand’s positioning towards servicemembers and first responders, Sanders asked to take a leadership position in Redcon1 as opposed to an endorsement or sponsorship role. After about six months of due diligence, the former professional football player is now a part owner of the brand.
Timing of the announcement was purposefully planned to coincide with signing day. Yesterday, in an attempt to create a viral moment, Sanders posted a cryptic text message conversation screenshot on Instagram that hinted at a “signing,” leading some fans to speculate on which football prospect had joined the Buffaloes.
Accompanying the launch today was a video featuring Singerman and Sanders discussing the deal and revealing that the “signing” was connected to the ownership deal not the football team.
The connection between sports nutrition brands and professional football is deep and wide. Gatorade’s entrance into the energy category with Fast Twitch in September 2022 was tied to a partnership with the NFL. Also in 2022, Arizona Cardinals’ Budda Baker and Philadelphia Eagles’ Haason Reddick became investors in FITAID and R7 Energy respectively to name a few. Last year, Hall of Fame wide-receiver Jerry Rice and his daughter Jaqui Rice Gold trademarked “sports energy” for their brand G.O.A.T. Fuel.