Mill Creek’s Zipfizz adds pop to its drink advertising

Published 5:57 pm Saturday, September 29, 2007

MILL CREEK — New flavors and forms, along with some help from TV commercials and a guerilla marketing campaign, are propelling sales of Zipfizz with a jolt.

Since Zipfizz Corp. got its first powdered energy drink mix on the market at the start of 2004, annual sales have mushroomed from about $2 million to an estimated $30 million by the time this year ends.

That latter total has been sweetened by faster sales around the Puget Sound area, thanks to television and radio commercials that ran this summer.

After seeing a 25 percent boost in local sales of its products after its first ad campaign, Zipfizz plans to run its ads in other parts of the country later this year.

The stylish, mostly black-and-white ads won’t replace lower-budget tactics, including passing out samples of its drinks at sporting events and stores, however.

“Word of mouth and sampling are a huge part of getting our product out there,” said Adrian Vicente, executive vice president at Zipfizz.

In addition to employing scores of part-time contractors to pass out samples of its products, Zipfizz’s name and logo can be found on a Chevrolet Monte Carlo racing car run by Rock-It Motorsports. That car and its driver, John Zaretzke of Monroe, lead the standings of NASCAR’s Super Stocks division.

Whether it’s that logo zipping around the racetrack, or the product samples or the legions of self-proclaimed Zipfizz addicts, something obviously is working.

While other small firms are selling energy drinks in powder form like Zipfizz, the firm has seen other competitors come and go in the past few years. “We own that market,” Riley Livingston, Zipfizz’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said unabashedly. “Our thing is to be different and unique. The form it comes in is still unique and the packaging is unique.”

Zipfizz’s powered drink mix now comes in four flavors — pink lemonade, citrus, berry and orange soda.

Additionally, Zipfizz has a drink mix aimed at boosting immunity during cold and flu season. That product, Immune Fizz, has more Vitamin C and vitamins than the well-known Airborne drink tablets, Livingston said.

Late last year, Zipfizz also began selling 4-ounce liquid energy drinks, which come in four different flavors.

As with its original product, the new versions touted their healthy attributes compared with most energy drinks. Unlike Redbull, Rockstar or other brand-name drinks, Zipfizz has no sugar. It provides a good amount of caffeine and a huge shot of vitamin B 12 — 41,667 percent of the recommended daily allowance.

“Most sports and energy drinks have sugar, artificial flavors and artificial colors. There’s nothing healthy about them,” said Livingston, 39.

But Zipfizz started life as an electrolyte replacement drink aimed at athletes. It was inspired by other products developed for Livingston’s other company, BioGenesis Nutraceuticals, which sells more than 200 different products to doctors, dietitians and other health care practitioners.

At the urging of some of his employees and friends, Livingston transformed it into a drink aimed at the larger retail audience.

After Costco began selling Zipfizz, the product’s popularity took off. Zipfizz now is also sold by Sam’s Club, QFC, Safeway, The Vitamin Shoppe and about 80 Walgreens stores. The company anticipates that distribution will expand quickly in the new year, including to many more Walgreens stores, Vicente said.

A weight-loss capsule bearing the Zipfizz name also is nearly ready to roll out to the market, he and Livingston said.

Deciding on the right packaging and form for an energy drink is a challenge, the two said. So is finding the right tastes. Each of the product lines have their own flavors, which have been well thought out to appeal to as many people as possible. “I don’t think I could find someone who doesn’t like at least one of the flavors,” Vicente said.

By doing more advertising, expanding distribution and introducing the new weight-loss product, Zipfizz hopes to keep sales growing. The larger industry trends bode well. The energy drink sector racked up sales of $3.5 billion last year and is headed for $5 billion or more in the U.S. this year, said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest. The “enhanced water” category — in which Zipfizz also competes — is growing just as fast, too.

Compared with the big brands in both of those sectors, however, Zipfizz is definitely just a niche product, said Jim Craven, editor of Bevnet, another trade journal.

But so far, with sales figures just a fraction of what the biggest national energy drinks generate, Zipfizz is succeeding, Livingston said.

He’d be happy to see that continue, he said, even if sales never reach the stratosphere inhabited by Redbull and other big names.

“I hope so,” he said. “Our niche is growing pretty well.”

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.