Richard Hiraga, a 30-year veteran of sports nutrition and supplementation, saw a need for a clean, effective and natural hydration product. He felt those currently on the market, with their overabundance of sugar, had moved from a supplement to a refreshment beverage. He enlisted a cadre of PhDs and professional athletes to provide science and real-time testing to develop a new kind of hydration product specifically designed to enhance performance.
What the resulting family of products needed at that point was a brand and some advertising. That’s when Brand33 came in. Name, logo, packaging, sales collateral, launch kits, swag—creating virtually everything about the brand was the assignment.
WHAT IS A GQ-6?
The origins are from the Japanese "Ji kyu ryo ku" (持 久力). A commonly used word, 持久力, translates to "Stamina", "Sustainability", "Endurance", "Perseverance" or "Persistence" in English.
The first two syllables are pronounced "G" and "Q". The last two–ryo ku–are spoken together and sound almost exactly like the Japanese word for the number six (6). So we broke it down to our own form of phonetic hieroglyphics and came up with GQ-6. Makes perfect sense now, right?
LAUNCHING A HYDRATION REVOLUTION
To cut through the sports supplement market noise, we felt the branding needed to work as efficiently as the products do with clean, simple — essential communication. For both web and mobile applications, we created a direct, no-nonsense brand look with clear and informative copy.
USERS ARE FANS
Since its launch, the GQ-6 product line has become the go-to hydration system for cycling and triathlon teams, motocross riders, football players and off-road racers. The GQ-6 team helps support these elite athletes by participating in many of the events and supplying product, branded performance gear, and sponsorships. And, of course, from their unmistakable GQ-6 vans, the team also tends to their hydration needs.
TARGETED ADVERTISING
Featured in everything from trade show properties to ads in segmented sports enthusiast publications, the distinctive GQ-6 brand marketing materials inform and engage the audience with the same honest effectiveness of its product line.
LAUNCH KITS
To help get retailers pumped about the new product line, we developed high-end launch kits that were handed out at trade shows and delivered to targeted retail outlets. Sample product, swag and product literature were all packaged and presented in bold GQ-6 style.
