Nutritional products meant to build strength and stamina and/or increase concentration, verve, and vigor in everyday tasks, have been increasingly active as a category for licensing. Properties from sugary food brands to celebrities have lent their names and/or flavor profiles to protein powders, energy drinks, protein bars, and similar offerings.
Characters that embody strength, power, or heroism collectively represent a property type that is a logical fit for this category, and they have indeed been at the center of a growing number of deals recently:
- Player Ammo signed Popeye last month, via U.K. agent Bulldog Licensing, to market a limited-edition powdered guava-and-mango-flavored energy drink and shaker bundle featuring the characters Popeye and Brutus, to mark the classic cartoon’s 95th anniversary.
- G Fuel’s tie-ins have focused mostly on gaming and anime, with many of the characters noted for their heroism or strength. A few of the properties that have been involved in at least one limited-edition offering with G Fuel since 2022 have included One Piece, announced just a few days ago, My Hero Academia earlier this year, Mortal Kombat, and Dragon Ball Z, among many others. The tie-ins typically include new flavors and/or new character-identified packaging for classic flavors, shaker cups, and collector’s boxes bundling multiple products.
- Myprotein teamed with Marvel in April of this year for a traditional, ongoing licensing deal that pairs a range of Marvel characters with various Myprotein products. The first range, of Myprotein’s Clear Whey protein powders, features new flavors as well as complementary shakers tied to Black Panther (blue raspberry), Spider-Man (raspberry and strawberry), Hulk (green plum and kiwi), and Captain Marvel (orange, mango, and tropical). Collectible boxes including one of the protein powders, a shaker, and a scoop, along with samples of the other three flavors, are also available. Previously, in 2023, Marvel signed with GNC for private label protein powders, starting with whey protein in three flavors (Birthday Cake, High-Flying S’mores, and Royal Caramel Cookie) tied to Captain America, Iron Man, and Black Panther. That effort marked the 60th anniversary of The Avengers.
- Zone Energy, a Suntory brand based in Japan, has focused on anime and manga to create limited-edition flavors of its ready-to-drink energy drinks for the Japanese market. Among the featured properties have been Kaiju No. 8 in April 2024, which was supported by a consumer sweepstakes, and Chainsaw Man in 2022.
- Vitamin Shoppe partnered with Warner Bros. and DC Comics in 2022 for products under its BodyTech Sports Nutrition private-label brand of protein, pre-workout, and sports nutrition products. Releases were tied to DC superheroes including Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and more; DC supervillains such as The Joker; and DC anti-heroes such as Black Adam. This is a traditional licensing deal rather than a limited-edition initiative as many of the other examples are.
- Rockstar Energy teamed with the interactive game Halo Infinite back in 2021, creating limited-edition, property-identified cans designed by five different artists, each with a code to unlock customized digital content for use in the game, as well as a sweepstakes with a variety of prizes.
This listing offers a representative sample of a trend that has been ongoing for a few years but that continues to gain steam. Whether they take the form of a long-term licensing deal, a limited-edition product or bundle, or a component of a promotional alliance, these products underscore the high-performance positioning these brands want to convey to consumers.
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