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| PureSport News and Events |
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| Olympic Gold-Medalist, Brendan Hansen, Joins PureSport as Director, Training & Performance; Performance Drink Earns Highest "Clean" Designation from Leading Independent Testing Company |
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 AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- PureSport, the patent-pending performance drink that is revolutionizing the sports drink category, is continuing its rapid rise from Olympian's secret weapon to mainstream sports drink with a number of major distribution, athlete, product and personnel announcements. Launched in July 2008, Pure Sport took center stage at the Beijing Olympics thanks to Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker, Aaron Peirsol and Nastia Liukin, all of whom made public the key role that PureSport played in their Olympic training programs.
New Retailers
To meet the growing consumer demand for the product, PureSport announced today that it has signed a national distribution deal with Sports Authority, the nation's preeminent full-line sporting goods chain, as well as online outlets including SwimOutlet.com and NutritionExpress.com. Until now, PureSport, which has enjoyed a cult following among professional athletes, coaches and trainers, had been available primarily through the company's web site.
New Athlete Partners
PureSport also announced today that it has inked exclusive product training deals with a diverse range of top athletes including Ryan Powell, the nation's top-ranked lacrosse player; soccer star, Kenny Cooper, Jr.; triathletes Brandon Marsh and Amy Marsh; and NFL player Bernard Berrian of the Minnesota Vikings.
"I kept hearing a buzz about PureSport and thought, I've gotta try this stuff, so I did. And let me tell you, it really works -- it makes a huge difference in terms of reducing post-workout muscle fatigue and soreness," said Berrian. "I'm thrilled to be part of the PureSport team."
"What I love most about what we've built is that we're a tight group and our athletes are real product ambassadors, not hired marketing guns," says Michael Humphrey, CEO of PureSport. "Every one of them trains with PureSport and has experienced first-hand the product's ability to help them perform at peak levels."
PureSport's secret is in its patent-pending formulation, which boasts a 2:67-to-1 protein-to-carbohydrate ratio, which is optimal for muscle performance and recovery. The product also has no caffeine, no added sugar and about half the calories of other sports drinks, which has made it popular with those watching calories.
Olympian Brendan Hansen Joins PureSport
PureSport also announced today that Brendan Hansen, the world-record holding swimmer who won gold in Beijing, is taking a break from 15 years in the international world of competitive swimming to join the company as Director of Training & Performance. In his new position, Hansen will be responsible for building the company's relationships with athletes, trainers, coaches and sports clubs.
"I've been training with PureSport for the last two years and believe so much in the product that I've decided to put my swimming career on hold to do what I can to spread the word about PureSport," says Hansen. "I'm excited about this new challenge and intend to approach it with the same work ethic and commitment to excellence that I've applied to my career in swimming."
"Brendan has been a valued part of the PureSport family since the beginning and we are delighted to have access to -- and provide our partners with access to -- his incredible knowledge and experience as a high- performing, world-class athlete," says Humphrey.
PureSport Earns Informed Sport Registration
In other news, PureSport has earned registration with Informed-Sport, a leading, independent supplement testing program that only registers products that they have rigorously tested and proven to be completely free of substances prohibited by the WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"We're honored by the designation," says Humphrey. "PureSport is as clean a drink as they come, which is why athletes, trainers and coaches love it so much."
Product Use among Non-Athletes
PureSport is quickly gaining a following among non-athletes as well. According to Humphrey, the company has received numerous calls from safety directors at corporations who want to buy PureSport for their industrial workers.
Humphrey says he's not surprised by the growing popularity of the product and the company's growth.
"It's clean, it tastes great and it works," says Humphrey. "It's performance in a bottle whether you're competing in a world-class sporting event, working out in the gym, doing yoga, recovering from the flu or cleaning out your garage."
ABOUT PURESPORT
PureSport is a brand of patent-pending, just-add-water performance drinks that feature the optimal carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of 2:67-to-1. Launched in July 2008, Pure Sport took center stage at the Beijing Olympics thanks to Olympians Michael Phelps, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker, Aaron Peirsol and Nastia Liukin, all of whom incorporated PureSport into their Olympic training programs. Created by Dr. John Ivy, chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin, with input from Phelps, PureSport is available in two formulations: PureSport Workout, which is used prior to and during exercise to improve endurance and reduce muscle tissue damage, and PureSport Recovery, which is used within 30 minutes of completing a workout to speed the storage of muscle and liver glycogen and promote muscle tissue repair. PureSport Workout and Recovery formulations are available in grape, fruit punch, lemon-lime and banana-berry. A carton of individual packets (15 servings) and canister (36 servings) of the PureSport Workout formula retails for a suggested $29.99 and $49.99, respectively. A carton of individual packets (10 servings) and a canister (11 servings) of the PureSport Recovery formula retails for a suggested $24.99 and $21.99, respectively. PureSport may be purchased at Sports Authority stores nationwide, RunTex stores in Texas, and online at www.puresport.us, www.SwimOutlet.com and www.NutritionExpress.com. For more information, please visit www.puresport.us
Media Contact
Karyn Ravin
Maletzky Media for Dynabrand
(212) 829-0150 x1
karyn@maletzkymedia.com
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| How Phelps Became the Face of PureSport |
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WALL STREET JOURNAL
By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
As history's greatest Olympian, Michael Phelps earns an estimated $5 million a year by endorsing some of the world's best-known credit-card, hotel and cereal brands.
But his appearance as pitchman for a Texas protein-powder maker might go down in the annals of sports marketing as one of the most unusual deals ever.
Before he earned his eight gold medals and became a global celebrity at the Beijing Olympics, Mr. Phelps and three teammates agreed to endorse PureSport, a protein mix made by a tiny Austin, Texas, company that didn't exist three years ago.
The agreement with Mr. Phelps and three other Olympic swimmers -- Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Ian Crocker -- gave the University of Texas spinoff a dizzying start.
The foursome, introduced to the company while training in Austin last year, took a 5% stake in exchange for their endorsements.
But it is Mr. Phelps's new star power that has provided the seven-person Human Performance Labs LLC with financing and access to scarce shelf space at retailers. The drink mix, initially sold through specialty shops, recently won a coveted spot at the Sports Authority, a 400-store sporting-goods chain.
"Phelps was the clincher," says Terry Gilmore, an oil, gas and real estate investor who put up nearly $5 million in January to launch the company.
Mr. Phelps rarely enters the water these days. The up to six-hour daily workouts that included 10,000 meters in the pool, plus weight training, are a memory for the time being.
The strapping Olympian is changing into a spindly couch potato. His once-bulky chest now appears to sink in from his shoulders rather than puff out.
He orders cheeseburgers and fries for lunch. If he has no corporate obligations, he says he tries to make it out of bed at his home in Baltimore for the final morning edition of ESPN's SportsCenter. He often misses it. Then, he watches a couple hours of television, may talk University of Michigan football with his friends, catch a movie, and another day is done.
"Doing nothing is actually pretty easy," he says.
The self-imposed, six-month layoff, the longest since he became serious about swimming at age 11, will end in mid-February, when Mr. Phelps plans to begin training for the 2009 swimming season and starts his long march to the 2012 Olympics in London. He insists PureSport's drinks will be part of that training.
In Beijing, every time Mr. Phelps emerged from the pool at the Water Cube, a coach handed him a plastic bottle filled with PureSport's protein and carbohydrate-filled cocktail. "About halfway through the meet, people started knocking on my door asking me what I was drinking and if they could have some," Mr. Phelps said during a recent interview.
Today, the company puts Mr. Phelps and his crooked smile wherever it can -- on packaging, store displays and in retail store appearances. PureSport can't afford national television commercials or print campaigns, so Mr. Phelps has become the core of its marketing campaign.
Last month, Mr. Phelps traveled to Chicago to celebrate PureSport hitting the shelves at the Sports Authority. Some 200 people slept outside overnight to meet him in Chicago, and 1,500 arrived for the event, which won television coverage on several local stations.
"We get him for at least seven days a year, and we book the hell out of him," says Michael Humphrey, chief executive of Human Performance Labs and a former sales executive with Broadcast.com and CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster. "Everything we can do to connect him to our brand, we'll do it."
That puts PureSport among the rarified list of big-name brands. Mr. Phelps has endorsements with VISA Inc., Hilton Hotels Corp., AT&T Inc., Kellogg Co., and Speedo International Ltd, among others, according to his agent, Peter Carlisle of Octagon, the Virginia-based sports-marketing firm.
Read the entire article here
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| PureSport’s Promotional Coup |
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Matt Casey, BevNet
Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
PureSport, a powdered sports drink brand, launched in a Sports Authority in Chicago last week, and they brought their new spokesman: Michael Phelps.
More than 1500 fans turned out to meet the eight-time gold medal winner, but the story here is that Phelps signed on to promote a relatively small brand instead of a category standard-bearer like Gatorade.
Phelps has already appeared in a number of promotions not typical of Olympians – like Frosted Flakes, AT&T Wireless internet connection cards and Rosetta Stone language learning software. Phelps said he personally used Rosetta Stone to learn Chinese prior to the Beijing Olympics, and said in PureSport’s promotional material that he trained for his epic run using PureSport products.
“I signed on with HPL PureSport because their drinks taste great and they work,” Phelps said. “PureSport helps me with my workouts and performance and allows me to recover without soreness; it’s legal and clean.”
The Austin American-Statesman reported in August that Phelps did train using the product, developed at the University of Texas. The paper ran the article under the headline “Move over, Gatorade: UT’s mix joins the league of sports drinks,” and that title might be more appropriate than editors in Austin realized. As long as Phelps’ star power lasts, the PureSport could become a lot more prominent in the near future.
Read the article on BevNet |
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| US Olympic Gold Medalist And Team PureSport Member, Nastia Liukin, Helps Vault PureSport Into Colorado Market |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kelly Durcan
212.253.4444
US Olympic Gold Medalist And Team PureSport Member, Nastia Liukin, Helps Vault PureSport Into Colorado Market
Park Meadows Sports Authority Hosts Olympic Gymnast this Saturday to Celebrate the Launch of New, Patent-Pending Sports Performance Drink
LITTLETON, CO (Oct 1, 2008) – This Saturday, Nastia Liukin, the 2008 Olympic individual all-around gold medal gymnast, will appear at the Sports Authority in Park Meadows to meet fans, sign autographs and celebrate the launch of PureSport, a new performance drink that she and a host of other Olympians, including Michael Phelps, used to train for the Games. This is Liukin’s first visit to Colorado since winning five medals, including gold, in Beijing, and tying Mary Lou Retton’s and Shannon Miller’s records as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single Olympic Games.
Liukin will be at the Sports Authority located at 7848 County Line Road in Littleton this Saturday from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
At Sports Authority, Liukin will also discuss her Olympic triumphs and conduct a drawing for tickets to the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars in the Broomfield Center (October 4th 3-5:30 p.m.).
PureSport is a brand of patent-pending performance drinks, made by adding water, that feature the optimal carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of 2:67-to-1. Created by Dr. John Ivy, chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. PureSport is available in two formulations: PureSport Workout, which is used prior to and during exercise to improve endurance and reduce muscle tissue damage; and PureSport Recovery, which is used within 30 minutes of completing a workout to speed the storage of muscle and liver glycogen and promote muscle tissue repair. PureSport is being introduced to the Colorado market via Sports Authority stores throughout the state.
“PureSport is a key part of my training routine. It’s a convenient and a great-tasting way to add protein to my diet giving me more, longer-lasting energy when I need it most. And, with low sugar, PureSport is the healthiest, most effective choice I can make for a sport drink” said Liukin.
Accompanying Liukin will be the PureSport Event Hummer, a tricked-out vehicle that will be traveling the country in support of the beverage’s nationwide launch. Free samples of PureSport will be provided to those attending the Sports Authority event Saturday.
As an Olympic gymnast, Liukin became only the third American to win the All-Around competition. She is a four-time World Champion, nine-time World medalist, four-time U.S. National Champion, and is currently a finalist for the Women’s Sports Foundation’s 2008 Sportswoman of the Year Award.
About PureSport
PureSport is a brand of patent-pending performance drinks, made by adding water, that feature the optimal carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of 2:67-to-1. Created by Dr. John Ivy, chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. PureSport is available in two formulations: PureSport Workout, which is used prior to and during exercise to improve endurance and reduce muscle tissue damage, and PureSport Recovery, which is used within 30 minutes of completing a workout to speed the storage of muscle and liver glycogen and promote muscle tissue repair. Among the athletes and coaches who are working with PureSport performance drinks are world-class athletes Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin, Kenny Cooper, Jr., Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker and Aaron Peirsol; Director of Aquatics at Clearwater Aquatics, Randy Reese; and Phelps’ swim coach, Bob Bowman.
PureSport Workout and Recovery formulations are available in grape, fruit punch, lemon lime and banana berry flavors at Sports Authority, Luke’s Locker in Houston and Dallas and RunTex Stores in Austin. PureSport Recovery Carton (10 count) and Recovery Canister (11 servings) retail for $24.99 and $21.99, respectively. PureSport Workout Carton (15 count) and Workout Canister (36 servings) retail for $29.99 and $49.99, respectively. The PureSport Workout Starter Kit, which includes four of each flavor of the Workout formula, four of each flavor of the Recovery formula and a Collapsible Bottle, retails for $19.99. For more information about PureSport performance drinks, please visit www.puresport.us.
About Sports Authority
Headquartered in Englewood, CO., Sports Authority is one of the nation’s largest full-line sporting goods retailer, offering a comprehensive and high-quality assortment of brand name sporting apparel and equipment at competitive prices.
Sports Authority is staffed with experts in all areas of sports and fitness related topics, and strives to be the ultimate “authority,” both on and off the field. Whether in the game or cheering from the sidelines, Sports Authority is the leading destination for consumers to fulfill their own sports equipment needs, as well as find their favorite team’s apparel.
Sports Authority operates 454 stores in 45 states, and employs more than 17,000 people nationwide. It also operates stores in Japan under a licensing agreement with AEON Co., Ltd. The company’s e-commerce website is located at www.sportsauthority.com. |
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| Leveraging the Olympics when you're a little guy |
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By Deborah L. Cohen
CHICAGO (Reuters.com) - The price tag for a promotional boost from a blockbuster event like the Beijing Olympics is too lofty for small businesses, but some have found a way to make big events work.
Excerpt
Austin, Texas-based Human Performance Labs went with an outlay of promotional dollars to make a big splash right out of the starting block.
The maker of the PureSport performance sports drink decided to secure endorsements from celebrity athletes such as U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps - now a gold medal record breaker - ahead of its product launch in November 2007.
The company, which has capital from a private equity partner, inked exclusive deals with Phelps and fellow U.S. national team swimmers Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker and Brendan Hansen, so it could track their performance during training and weave the results into its product story.
"It was very calculated," says Michael Humphrey, the company's chief executive and a former vice president for Simon & Schuster who has been involved in several start-ups. "If we could own swimming and a few of these niche sports, we'd have a real opportunity."
The company signed an additional endorsement with celebrity gymnast Nastia Liukin shortly before the Games began. Aside from the sizeable investment in endorsements - PureSport, whose drinks are prepared by mixing powder with water - says it has done little else in the way of marketing.
Humphrey, whose company has less than 10 full-time employees and subcontracts manufacturing, said he's received various inquiries from other retailers and distributors. "It is definitely without question translating to retail opportunities," he says of the Olympics investment.
See Full Story here |
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