Prime
Until recently, my only YouTube celebrity packaged goods experiences have been as a purchasing agent for older son’s desire to try Mr. Beast’s Feastables and MrBeast Burger.
The results have been mixed.
We got a variety pack of Feastables chocolate bars that were good.
We waited more than 100 minutes for a couple burgers and fries, which were cold. We hit three different Walmarts to find one that was carrying Feastables cookies when they launched “nationwide.” We bought two packs and one remains unopened.
Though it all, Charlie is a steadfast Mr. Beast fan.
At one point, during the 100-minute-plus wait for his burger, we talked about whether the delay was impacting his fandom for the YouTube creator. It was not.
“It’s probably the driver’s fault,” was, roughly, his assessment.
For Charlie, his desire to buy Feastables remains tied to his fandom of Mr. Beast. The purchases aren’t that frequent, but they do happen.
It’s been fascinating to watch the world of celebrity packaged goods through the lens of an almost-9-year-old, and even more fascinating of late, as he’s discovered Logan Paul’s and KSI’s Prime Hydration.
There is a place next to our grocery store that carries Prime. There is a cheesesteak shop—hey, it’s Philly— the next neighborhood over that carries Prime. There is a Vitamin Shoppe, in the complete opposite direction of any of retail shopping we normally do, that carries Prime.
The map of Prime-carrying locations is seared into my head, because I’ve been to all of them on the hunt for even one bottle. (The things we learn as parents.)
If Charlie had his way, he’d drink Prime daily.
On Wednesday, Charlie was flipping a bottle of Strawberry Lemonade Prime Hydration when he told me that, pretty soon, Prime was going to be bigger than Gatorade.
We spent some time talking about how long that might take, as well as some potential risks along the way. I asked him if he knew about the fact that Paul, for one, always seems to find himself in some sort of trouble. He did.
“Just because he’s not a good person,” the answer started, “that doesn’t mean he can’t make a great drink.”
Well, shoot.
In our earliest exploration of celebrity packaged goods brands, we wrote:
Creators and celebrities, though they have an initial distribution advantage, do not solve the core problems of business on their brand alone. The fundamentals still matter.
And here was my kid, basically saying he doesn’t care—not really, anyway—that Logan Paul was behind Prime.
This was news to me. Given his desire to buy Feastables was tied to Mr. Beast, I flat-out assumed his obsession with Prime was tied to Logan Paul.
No. He likes the way it tastes more than he likes the way Gatorade tastes. He likes the packaging. (Aside: They also flip better than most other bottles, making it perfect product placement for bottle-flipping YouTube content, which Charlie also appears to be the prime audience for.) He trades bottles—both full and empty—with friends. Prime is use case functionality—sugary drink as a treat—and status symbol rolled into one.
This, it seems, feels like brand.
Fascinating, then, that so much about Prime is still tied to its celebrities. Because, if Charlie is any indication, one of the core consumer segments for Prime sees it as something much bigger.