Lionel Messi releases Más+ by Messi to compete with Prime

Football star Lionel Messi has partnered with White Claw owner Mark Anthony Brands to release a sports drink named Más+ by Messi.

The drink, which will go head-to-head with Logan Paul’s popular Prime drink, sees the G.O.A.T enters into the US$33 billion category and uses the tagline: ‘Positive hydration’ as part of its marketing.

Más+ by Messi is a low-sugar drink containing electrolytes and vitamins without artificial sweeteners, colours or caffeine and will be available in four flavours including: Miami Punch and Orange d’Or and marks the beginning of Mark Anthony Brands’ first foray into the zero-alcohol category.

Más+ by Messi will first be released in Miami on 13 June and then in July will roll out via the brand’s webshop before hitting US supermarkets in August. A global launch of the brand is also in the pipeline and is reportedly being planned for later this year.

Speaking about the new brand entering the category, food and drink insight platform Snaxshot founder Andrea Hernández told CNN: “The category is saturated, so it all comes down to price parity and distribution, assuming Messi has secured some good deals to try and actually compete with not only Prime but also Gatorade, BodyArmor and others. The only advantage they carry is tied to Messi’s image.”

Hernández however pointed out that Messi’s “fandom extends wide, and he’s almost hero-like for new generation of upcoming athletes, particularly in a massive market like Latin America,” a region she noted that Prime’s distribution had not already reached.

Hernández also highlighted how Más+ by Messi uses cane sugar which, she identified as a savvy new trend due to a selection of zero sugar drinks were turning people off due to their lack of flavour and added: “People forget having a good tasting product also goes a long way. Gen Alpha is up for grabs, and that is who these new generation energy drinks are aiming to capture especially as they enter teenage years.”