Are you thirsty?
The real trend™ of fitness events is... limited-edition drinks
One of my favourite hobbies, especially when I’m travelling, is noodle my way through the grocery stores to check out the snack and beverage aisles. In the US, even the tiniest of bodegas — those on deserted streets in the no man’s land between subway stations — have wall to wall refrigerators with eye-boggling options. My itemised bank statement after every trip to New York is about 80% soft drinks.
I enjoy the browsing element because I think drinks and snacks are a pulse check. Trends™ are everywhere and anywhere, and soft drinks are relevant because a) people are drinking less alcohol and b) fitness is booming. Soft drinks are in the middle of this venn diagram. I wrote about the status protein shake and curious coffees recently, both of which speak to this.
The global soft drinks market was worth $418.5 billion in 2024. And shelves are flooding with new, independent brands. In 2020, Olipop was a nascent, better-for-you soda; it’s now worth $1.8 billion. The adaptogenic drink has gone from a niche to mainstream. Big brands (like Vita Coca, for example) are striving for relevance against the artisanals by launching experimental flavours (coconut waters with mango, pineapple and strawberry). It’s become a battle of the most creative, pushing flavour profiles and beverages more broadly well beyond the norm.
Drinks are having a moment. And the boom in exercise culture is propelling hydration further. It’s more relevant than ever. Consumers are thirsty for newness and thirsty for fun.
This week’s hot take? The real trend of fitness events like marathons and Hyrox is not big brand activations, sub-hour scoreboards or even souvenir merch... It’s beverages.
Sorry, what?
Brands may still be chasing the amplified spectacle, but if you’ve been on the ground for any fitness event recently, you might have enjoyed a newer, smaller movement that is bubbling. It’s that of the signature, limited-edition drink.
Quench me
The earliest thirst trap I can recall this year was Satisfy’s vanilla lemonade, infused with vitamin C, which was given out at the Paris marathon in April. It was bagged in a little foil drinks sleeve that mimics its silver packaging, and labelled with its signature typeface. If you've ever wondered what Satisfy tasted like (have you?) this lemon juice, vanilla, sugar and water mixture was, apparently, it.
At the Copenhagen marathon this May, Adidas created a charcoal-infused lemonade – a bottle of black liquid stickered with a monochromatic trefoil that looked good on the ‘gram. And it’s not just happening in running. Gymshark teamed up with Puresport for its Hyrox activation in May, too. Held in an old school laundrette, the pop-up repacked electrolytes into special edition “Electro-White” cartons that mimicked retro laundry detergents.
The trend is picking up pace in London. Chocolate matcha “Marathon Milk” and a coconut water “Hydration Slushy” were available at Knees Up over the marathon weekend in April, developed with the experimental beverage makers Malik Acid. (Malik has also created drinks for Burberry and Jacquemus.) Nike offered its trefoil-embossed coffees and Nike cans of water. Puresport set-up (without permission) gas pumps filled with free electrolytes on the embankment—it repositioned liquids as fuel.
Yesterday, Cadence took it further. It turned its electrolytes into what felt like actual food. To launch its new cream soda flavour, it rebranded an ice cream van and gave out free ice cream floats — cans of its fizzy electrolytes on ice, topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Riffing on Erewhon’s viral smoothie, the sundaes were playful and memorable. But instead of pilates princesses waiting in line in their colourful Lululemon co-ords, there was a lot of guys with long-ish hair in cut-off tanks and caps.
The context
We can thank the electrolyte boom for this. Millennial-founded brands (Humantra; Puresport; Cadence) have led the way in product repositioning. Clean packaging and slick branding have turned hydration into something cool — even sexy. These Salty brands have massive online followings that prove their cultural relevance: Puresport and Humantra both have over 140k on Instagram — 140k, for salt sticks!— while Cadence, founded last year, has 41k. This week, Humantra secured an eight-figure investment. Famous people, from Novak Djovovic to Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper, are also launching brands (Sila and Unwell, respectively).
Drinks are IN.
Carbs have typically taken the podium in sports conversations; Maurten turned carb-loading into a trendy pursuit, while hydration has been secondary. But these brands are shifting that narrative.
Especially Puresport; its marketing team is on one right now. At Hackney Half in May, it went to town with the hydration fuel concept, serving watermelon slices topped with its watermelon electrolytes. It was a very smart play. I was told off the record from a friend in the know that the brand effectively got a cease and desist from Powerade, the race’s sponsor, for offering a competitor beverage at the finish line. The watermelon bypass had real flair. It was more of a social media moment than getting the medal.
I’m loving how Puresport is showing up at events. The electrolyte sector is so new to the market, and all these brands are inventing the wheel with how they activate. There’s no playbook to abide by, and I’m excited to see how it develops.
The why
Sports brands with their finger on the pulse are now creating their own softies as a way of holistically building out the sensory “world of”. In this signalling era, a free logoed drink is often more desirable than a piece of kit you can buy. A beverage is a marketing play; it’s an offline takeaway that becomes online kudos on Instagram. It’s cultural currency in a can.
“It’s not just about the core product, it becomes about all the cool stuff you can do around the a brand,” says Matt Horrocks, co-founder of Knees Up, a concept space which hosts run clubs, has a cafe, a coffee bar and a kit shop — it’s like an open-plan living room for the active enthusiast. “Food and drink is such an effective way to connect with people. For those who are into fitness, what we eat and drink is super important. How we feel impacts how we train. It’s possible to be really playful with what we offer people to consume.”
With drinks, it’s all about being in the right place at the right time to have access. IYKYK, and then some. This weekend, Cadence was right on the money. Offering a drink as a dessert shifted what could have been an underwhelming launch into an amplified moment to savour. I had a watermelon sundae with vegan cream, and it was a real treat after a 15k sweat in 23 degree heat. Observing loads of gym rats taking photos of their cute, cherry topped drinks made it even more fun.
“People are looking for joy, and the soft beverage boom, particularly in the US, shows how brands can build communities and culture around drinks,” says Charlie Wright, founder of Humantra. “There’s a lower barrier for entry in this space, so independent players [including sports brands] are bringing fresh energy and creativity.”
The first time I went to the Bandit store in NY, I tried on all sorts of kits, but what I remember most is the experiential iced coffees that I drank and the coconut water brand that I discovered. The most memorable things are often the things you don’t expect to find — drinks play into this. I went back to Bandit many times for coffee. Without the coffee bar, I’d have visited only once.
Can any drink become a “moment?”
No. Nostalgia reigns.
Given millennials and Gen Z make up the majority of attendees at these activations, it’s not a coincidence that all these beverages lean into things we remember from childhood. Cadence’s ice cream van was evocative, even without the chimey song. They’d decorated it with Cadence lettering and slogans, which brought it into the now — and ultra runner Hercules Nicolaou became the ice cream man, serving the whips from inside the van.
I enjoyed the visual contrast. The biceped runners in their black half tights and sunglasses; the pale pink van with stickered windows and a whimsical 3D cow on the roof.
Adidas and Satisfy’s flat lemonades conjure the kid with the roadside lemonade cart from the picket-fence fantasy. I don’t think I ever actually made my own lemonade as a kid, but every time I have a glass today, I’m convinced I did.
Knees Up’s chocolate marathon milk was basically Nesquik made good — just oat milk, cacao, agave and matcha. This one really hit the spot for me because—confession—I have a strawberry Nesquik after every long run. The coconut water Hydration Slushie (using Fountain of Youth) was a healthier Slush Puppy. Cadence recently launched a cola flavour, and Satisfy’s Floda is flat cola, deliberately without the fizz.
All of these follow the big trend for yassified versions of Nineties favourites: everything from Pop Tarts and doughnuts to cinnamon cereal has been visually rebranded and now comes with added protein. It’s crappy kids food, but not. One thing I’m wondering is when Sunny Delight 2.0 is going to drop. This time, it won’t turn you orange.
Why else is this relevant?
People are going sober/sober-curious, so experiential drinks tap into the reward mindset in a way that aligns with our behaviour. It wouldn’t surprise me if we soon saw electrolyte mocktails on menus at after-parties, or even cocktails — dehydrate and rehydrate in one. Puresport, let’s talk.
Drinks are also an entry-level price point. A softie is a cheaper souvenir than a T-shirt. Scarcity is key. You can resell a limited-edition T-shirt, but you cannot resell a time-sensitive drink.
More than this though, taste is a portal. And to capture that emotion, and bottle it, is a powerful way for brands to connect with people — especially when it’s a better-for-you version that’s actually fuelling your workouts. Been there, done that, drank the kool aid.