Behind the marketing of new sports drink from Stephen Curry and Michelle Obama

The new sports drink from Michelle Obama’s Plezi Nutrition brand represents how the two-year-old better-for-you food company is branching out from products made for younger children. The product, called Plezi Hydration, targets middle- and high school-aged kids, setting it apart from its juice brand, which is marketed to parents of younger children. Marketing plans include a starring role for NBA star Stephen Curry, a partner with Plezi Nutrition. “Middle school [and] high school is our primary consumer, and we have built our marketing strategy through a deep obsession with and admiration for how they engage with brands,” Samantha Siegal, chief marketing officer for the Washington, D.C.-based company, said in an interview. “So what that means for us is a little bit of a one-two punch of online and IRL.” Curry stars in a video released this week in which he is shown practicing basketball alone in a gym while touting Plezi Hydration's high electrolyte and potassium levels. Ad Age A-List and Creativity Gala Buy your ticket to the in-person event Click here Plezi (which stylizes its name to read PLEZi and means “fun” in Creole) was founded by Obama in 2023 to democratize better-for-you foods, producing items at taste parity with conventional products, but with better ingredients. Its juice brand debuted in 2023. It is now aging up with Plezi Hydration and Plezi Fizz, a carbonated fruit drink competitor to soda. Hydration and Fizz will be the new strategic focus for the brand, Siegal said. Havas, which also works with the larger Plezi Nutrition brand, is leading creative strategy and PR for Plezi Hydration. The brand has also engaged other agencies to assist with the social, experiential and influencer spaces, Siegal said. Plezi’s “one-two punch” will involve sampling at retail and other events, along with social and influencer marketing. “We’re going very deep in the social space, working very closely with Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha, who are both investors and brand partners in Plezi and Mrs. Obama, but we’re also building out a really diverse base of content creators at both kind of a macro and micro scale,” said Siegal, a former PepsiCo marketer. These will include college athletes through NIL deals, to be announced in the coming weeks. Read more: March Madness 2025 NIL deals “It’s very important to us to only work with creators who have a reason to be passionate about the product and bring it into their lives, and a reason to speak about it,” Siegal said. “And all of our creators fit in our target consumer age bracket and demographic in order to have that real connection.” Sampling is important, Siegal said, “because there is absolutely no substitute for trying a product yourself and then for sharing that with your family and friends.” That’s going on now in California grocery stores where the product has launched at retail (it is also available on Amazon). Plezi also supported 10,000 runners in the Oakland Marathon this past weekend, she said. Plezi Hydration will seek traction in a sports drink category that includes massive brands such as PepsiCo’s Gatorade, Coca-Cola’s Bodyarmor, and Logan Paul-backed Prime. The better-ingredient story will help to differentiate Plezi, Siegal said. A 16.9-oz. bottle offers twice the electrolytes, seven times the potassium and half the sugar of competitors, according to the brand, along with no added sugar or artificial sweeteners, less sodium and a daily dose of vitamin C.

Behind the marketing of new sports drink from Stephen Curry and Michelle Obama

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