For The Next Generation

The Centers for Disease Control, through its National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, found that the number of overweight children ages 6 to 11 increased from 4 to 13 percent between 1965 and 1999.

Similarly, the number of overweight adolescents ages 12 to 19 increased from 5 to 14 percent. As the statistics rise, health experts worry that a healthy diet is becoming increasingly rare for many children and youths.

Like the baby boomer generation, supplementation is an effective option for children and adolescents, but convincing these age groups to chew a nasty tasting multivitamin or swallow a handful of pills can be tricky.

BK believes that Verve is one of the most effective tools to fill the teenage nutritional gap. "The Vemma formula can reach millions of energy drink consumers who never thought about supplementing before the introduction of Verve," he says. "Judging from the numbers of postive phone calls I'm getting and the great buzz energy drinksare receiving,Verve could be one of the biggest products we've ever seen."

In developing the product, BK considered what effect the popularity of sugary soft drinks and energy drinks may have on the health of the youngest members of the American population.

"Teenage obesity and diabetes have soared over the last five years, and during that same period energy drink sales have absolutely exploded into a more than $5 billion domestic market," BK says. "So I decided that we needed to have a healthy alternative for these kids--something that their parents would be happyto see them drinking and something the kids will embrace as a cool, hip product."

Effective Advertising

Taking an already popular product category--energy drinks--and adding a healthy twist is an intriguing way to incorporate vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants into the diet of a generation that already has a strong affection for energy drinks. Getting that product into the hands of those teenagers, however, is a different challenge entirely.

Today's teenagers are contantly bombarded by information overload. BusinessWeek reports that 15- to 18- olds spend an average of nearly seven hours a day using media entertainment, such as watching television, playing video games and surfing the Internet, exposing them to innumerable advertisements. "Kids filter through what they respond to by how it's delivered," BK says.

A Packaged Fact consumer report points to unique forms of marketing as the key to reaching these audiences. "Attractive and evocative packaging, guerrilla tactics and other alternative marketing practices will be important tools for marketing the nature of energy drinnk brands," according to the report.

"That's exciting news because this tells me we're right on target," BK says. "We have phenominal-looking packaging and unique, hybrid forms for marketing our products. Together, these two elements make it as easy as possible for Vemma members to share Verve with every generation."

The "MySpace Generation," as the pre-teen and teenaged population has been dubbed because of their reliance on Internet socializing, is proof that word-of-mouth advertising is still effective, "This age group is connected through virtual social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and the like," BK says. "The term networking has never been more powerful than it is in this up-and-coming age group. They are connected like never before on a global basis.

For Vemma and its energy drink, Verve, this means more then just selling a product, but also providing a growing business opportunity for teenagers who previously would've been deemed unlikely business owners. Teens 14 to 17 are allowed to start their own Vemma businesses with notarized parental authorization. This new age bracket opens a door for Vemma and new avenues for teens often limited to minimum-wage jobs and struggling to balance school and work. "A kid talking to his buddies about an energy drink that's good for them and can make them money gets through far more effectively than any television, radio or print ad would; not even a sponsorship with Extreme Games," BK says.

Sharing The Mission Of Health

BK is driven to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Together with the Vemma team, he has created an energy drink that can positively affect the health of consumers--through Verve's healthful ingredients--while providing opportunity for financial gain to members through the revolutionary sales system of the Verve product. They call it "hybrid marketing," a unique blend of retail marketing and network marketing.

"One of the advantages to being a member of our company is that we have a singular formula focus," BK says. "We have more than one product, but we have a single formula. Because of this, there's not a lot of training required. The focus, once you've learned the fundamentals, is how the member chooses to distribute the product." This distribution option, whether through personal sales or vending machines in large arenas, allows members who sell Verve a business advantage that few companies in the industry can offer.

Now, the development of the Verve product and its corresponding mission of wellness, BK is confident that the future for Vemma is limitless. "It's not what we've done or where we've been, but where we really want to go that matters," he says. "Verve is the most exciting product that I have ever held in my hand; it's massively consumable and the clinically studied formula is going to take our mission of promoting health to places we've never gone before."