For over 50 years, Gatorade has been the king of sport/hydration beverages. Many other large beverage corporations, including BodyArmor and Powerade, have tried to supersede Gatorade, but have failed. Just over 8 months ago, two internet influencers, KSI and Logan Paul, surprised the world with the announcement of Prime hydration, the drink to finally overthrow Gatorade.
Even before anyone was able to go to the nearest Walmart to find a bottle of Prime, it already had a leg up on Gatorade: its founders are two of the biggest social media influencers in the world right now. KSI is a United Kingdom based influencer with just over 12 million followers on Instagram and just under 16 million subscribers on YouTube. His influence helped with the international launch in late June. His business partner, Logan Paul, is based in the United States. He has just under 24 million followers on Instagram and 23 million subscribers on YouTube.
In 2018, the two influencers got involved in conflict with each other. The conflict led to two boxing matches in 2018 and 2019 between Paul and KSI. They tied in the first match and KSI prevailed in the second. After this, they resolved their differences and came together to create Prime. The attention from these fights added to the awareness of Prime’s release.
Already, Prime has offered six different flavors: ice pop, tropical punch, orange, grape, lemon lime, and blue raspberry. On September 14th, Prime released Meta Moon, its newest flavor. Unlike the others, Meta Moon isn’t classified as a mainstream flavor. So far, it has only been advertised as an “out of this world flavor,” according to drinkprime.com and “a flavor so good, we can’t even describe it,” according to Paul. On Paul’s podcast, Impaulsive with Logan Paul, Paul even hinted at a pineapple flavor customers can expect in the near future. Although Gatorade has dozens more flavors than Prime, Gatorade has been around for nearly five decades, while Prime was created less than a year ago. This is a classic case of quality over quantity.
The whole reasoning behind Prime’s creation is to be a healthier alternative to Gatorade. In a 20 fluid ounce bottle of orange Gatorade, you can expect to take in 140 calories, 270 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, and 34 grams of sugar.
You need all of these nutrients to sustain your bodily functions, especially after exercise, but too much of each nutrient can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle.
When consuming a 16 fluid ounce bottle of Prime, these unnecessary nutrient levels are greatly reduced, while giving you the same benefits as Gatorade. A bottle of Prime is only 20 calories, contains only 10 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of carbohydrates, and only costs you 2 grams of sugar.
Like Gatorade, Prime contains electrolytes. Unlike Gatorade, Prime contains coconut water, BCAAs, and B vitamins. Coconut water provides superior, yet healthier flavor, BCAAs reduce muscle fatigue, and B vitamins transport oxygen and energy nutrients throughout your body, according to hsph.harvard.edu.
In the half century Gatorade has been around, it is amazing that Prime had not been made earlier. It is truly better than Gatorade in every sense: taste, brand, and health. Gatorade has had its run, but now it’s “prime time.”