You have to hand it to the makers of 5-Hour Energy. The Michigan-based company has taken a product that’s been on the market for years—caffeine supplements, essentially—added some B-group vitamins to it, and turned it into a multi-million dollar cash cow that dominates 78 percent of the energy shot market. They could have called it “No-Doz with a larger marketing budget,” but that doesn’t have quite the same ring. How have they done it? It’s hard to say exactly why any good or service catches on (who can explain the Snuggie?), but their low-budget, highly ubiquitous TV ads, which at first glance seem low-rent and pedestrian, actually reveal a clever strategy upon closer inspection.
Let’s start from the beginning. Back in 2004 when the commercials first began airing, the product immediately pitted itself as a better alternative to high-sugar energy drinks. “It’s not really a drink, it’s more like a shot,” the ad explained. And best of all, there’s “no crash later,” because it doesn't contain sugar. These early commercials didn’t explain what 5-HE did contain, but that was intentional, in my opinion. All you needed to know, first-rate consumer, was that Living Essentials was not a nefarious energy drink maker feeding you guarana extract and high-fructose corn syrup. For the record, what the shot does provide is about 100 mg of caffeine and nearly 2000% of the recommended daily intake of B6. There's some debate on whether that's a good thing.
I have to admit that at first, these commercials didn’t do much for me. I likened the drink to a mere novelty item you would find alongside a number of other cash register displays, like Fen-phen, and I we all know how that story played out. But this was simply the beginning of the company’s gameplan.
For Act Two, 5-HE turned to celebrity endorsements. Most of the 45-second TV spots focused on close-ups of professional athletes smiling at the camera and swearing by the product’s ability to sustain them through vigorous competitions. “Wow,” some consumers began to think no doubt, “If NFL wide receiver Braylon Edwards is his team’s ‘5-Hour Energy designated driver,’ then maybe there is something to this product.” The hand-held quality of these ads actually lent to their believability, because they weren't slick Snoop Dogg productions with fireworks, but rather casual conversations not unlike with a friend. Well played, 5-HE.
More recent iterations of the company's campaign demonstrate a tightening noose on their full-circle strategy. “Do you know what 2:30 in the afternoon feels like?,” the office worker asks us. Don’t reach for the soda or coffee, he implores, but for that magical little red bottle. Ah yes, coffee. This is 5-HE’s final frontier. We Americans love our coffee. Yet 5-HE shares the same active ingredient, so it is in fact fighting over the same market share. But how do you put a dent in the $11 billion coffee industry? Straight on, of course.
Look at that poor guy waking up but not quite awake. He sure does need something to get him going. But firing up the coffee machine is a 10-minute ordeal, and he’s already late for work! How’s he expected to face the day? Don’t worry, my foggy friend, there’s a bottle of 5-HE in the frig, and it’s ready right now. “That was fast,” he says, seemingly self-satisfied.
These are the commercials you see running now. Notice what these spots are not telling you. They don’t say that coffee is bad for you, nor do they try denying that people are gaga for the stuff. They’re simply saying that coffee is inefficient. Not only that, but by using 5-HE, you’re smarter than all of those nimrods waiting in line at Starbucks, implies the ad. Marketing genius.
I’m interested to see where Living Essentials goes from here. They’ve already flanked energy drinks, earned Rusty Wallace's affection, spurned soda as an afternoon pick-me-up, and proclaimed their intellectual superiority over a cup of joe. What’s left? They seem to be aiming for broad market appeal, so I doubt they’ll try targeting college students as a study aid, or senior citizens as way to stay awake through Matlock. Maybe they’ll experiment with different flavors and try to crowd in on Red Bull’s turf as a better way to enjoy vodka.
Whatever they do, don’t come away from this post thinking that I’m their #1 fan. In fact, I never even tried the stuff…yet. Lately though, I have been feeling somewhat experimental, and wouldn’t you know it, I just had that 2:30 feeling this afternoon…
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