- Alex Cooper announced a new product: an electrolyte drink called Unwell Hydration.
- The “Call Her Daddy” star said the drink is low in sugar and contains B vitamins.
- Cooper’s move follows a trend of celebrities launching beverage brands.
Alex Cooper is getting into the beverage business.
The “Call Her Daddy” host announced on Wednesday that she’d be launching Unwell Hydration, an electrolyte beverage, early next year.
“What could be my first consumer product? Probably something that would make the most sense would be that it could integrate into your unwell lifestyle,” she said at Wednesday’s DealBook Summit, a nod to her media network, Unwell.
She said the beverage would be marketed primarily to women, be low in sugar, and contain B vitamins. The drink is a partnership with Nestlé. Cooper did not specify the ownership structure of the endeavor.
“Every time I went to pick up an energy drink or any type of hydration drink, it’s all catered to men,” she told DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Still, it’s hardly the first celebrity beverage on the market.
Energy or hydration drinks backed by famous faces date back to at least the early 2000s when 50 Cent partnered with Vitamin Water in a deal that Forbes reported led to a $100 million payday. There have been several others since. For example, 50 Cent launched a follow-up beverage brand, Street King, which is now defunct; Dwayne Johnson created Zoa; and Kim Kardashian has Alani Kimade.
Perhaps the most successful of the bunch has been Prime Hydration from YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI. While the company has been facing legal battles in recent months, it surged in popularity after its launch in 2022. Bloomberg reported that sales were on track to exceed $1.2 billion for 2023.
Then there are the celebrity alcohol brands, some of which have turned out to be extremely lucrative. George Clooney pocketed more than $200 million when he sold Casamigos to Diageo in 2017, Sean Combs earned nearly $1 billion over his decade-plus-long partnerships on Cîroc and DeLeón, and Ryan Reynolds and his partners sold Aviation American Gin for $610 million.
Cooper could also soon jump on that trend. In November, Cooper’s company filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a product called “Popular Vodka by Unwell” consisting of alcoholic beverages (except beer), including distilled spirits, fruit spirits, liqueurs, liquors, vodka cocktails, and prepared cocktails consisting primarily of distilled spirits.
Cooper has been expanding her media business as well. Last year, she launched Unwell Network, which produces a slate of podcasts by influencers like Alix Earle, Harry Jowsey, and Madeline Argy. In August, Cooper signed a three-year deal with SiriusXM that was valued at up to $125 million.
