• by Les Luchter , Staff Writer, August 22, 2024

Over the past 15 years, Chris Brody’s marketing career has taken him from Mars’ Skittles candy and Orbit gum, to Nestlé’s DiGiorno Pizza, to Mars’ M&Ms. Now he’s back at Nestlé, as senior director, brand marketing for Nuun, which markets electrolyte hydration tablets and powders and was acquired by Nestlé Health Science in 2021. Brody came on board this spring, just in time for the kickoff of Nuun’s 20^th anniversary celebrations. Pharma & Health Insider caught up with him to discuss Muuvement, Unexpectercise and Muuvers.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Pharma & Health Insider: How does your experience with big CPG brands inform what you’re doing with Nuun?

Chris Brody: Nuun is a really colorful brand with a great personality. Some of what it has in common with M&Ms is that it’s got a great sense of humor. Nuun is focused on movement, an active lifestyle, and the fact that hydrated humans have more fun. If you stay hydrated before, during and after your workout, you have more fun together.

P&HI: Speaking of fun, let’s talk about Nuun’s 20^th anniversary activations, starting with the search for a Chief “Muuvment” Officer who would be paid $20,000 and receive Nuun for life in exchange for curating fitness workouts during a surprise celebration.

Brody: We got a couple of hundred applicants, and Alex Piccirilli stood out. She's worked a lot with Nike. She’s a great instructor and a really fun personality who was able to embody the Nuun spirit. She helped shape the workouts and make sure they not only gave people great physical exercise but made them feel like a million bucks emotionally.

P&HI:The surprise turned out to beNuun “Unexpectercise,” a 10-day, 20-workout event held in Chicago. Why Chicago?

Brody: Chicago is a good representation of the type of community that likes to be outdoors, is up for anything, and a good microcosm of the national Nuun community. We had 500 -plus people show up, 25% more attendees than expected. Influencers and partners helped spread the word

P&HI:And what did attendees get?

Brody:  The workouts had different themes, but there was a mystery as to what each would be. You had no idea what you were in for, which really made it fun. That was the spirit of Nuun -- when you're hydrated with Nuun, anything can happen.

P&HI: Can you give some specific examples?

Brody: One was a full, well-structured workout with a dodgeball theme, where we had WWE Hall of Famer TorrieWilson walking around the room throwing dodgeballs at people. Then we broke for the last 10 minutes and had a proper dodgeball game.

Another was themed around our limited-time summer flavor, peach. Given the peach emoji, it was a booty workout.

We had an Orange Theory Fitness- themed workout. We had basketball, pickleball….

P&HI:What were the results fromUnexpectercise?

Brody: In the weeks during and after the program, we saw sales lift of over 5%. We've seen momentum throughout the summer, including a killer Prime Day performance that exceeded our expectations. 

P&HI:Since you mentioned Prime Day, we must bring up your competitor, Liquid I.V., which is very big on Prime Day.

Brody: They are an admirable and big brand doing a good job spreading the word on the benefits of hydration in general. While new hydration entrants are pushing us to think creatively about our marketing approach, it's a push we’re enjoying. It led us to create Unexpectercise.

It's a growing space as people start to realize how important it is to stay hydrated throughout the day.

P&HI: What makes Nuun different?

Brody: Nuun comes in a tablet, one of our key forms, which is really convenient and great for on-the-go.

We were the first brand to separate electrolytes from carbohydrates, to offer clean hydration that doesn't have all of the sugar you'll see with some of the RTD [ready-to-drink] offerings.

P&HI: What else is Nuun doing marketing-wise?

Brody: Unexpectercise was part of a big campaign Nuun launched in May. Called "Anything Can Happen after Nuun," it works on the insight that hydrated humans have more fun. That's really been at the heart of Nuun for our whole existence. The campaign and influencers are part of it.

We have an ambassador program of over 7 ,000 unpaid advocates.  We have big sampling events in key markets. We’re trying to get out there and get more people to see the brand, to touch it, to taste it.

We always have a strong presence at athletic events, like running events.  We'll have a presence around the Chicago Marathon.

BibRave works with us to create the right brand experience for many of those events. We worked with them on Unexpectercise.

P&HI: Who's your target audience?

Brody: It's the active social muuver, M -U -U -V -E -R -- somebody who is social, an everyday athlete, likes to get out there and be active with friends for their health, for their happiness, and just for the fun.

P&HI:What’s next for the 20^th anniversary celebrations?

Brody: We have some exciting stuff on the way that, in the spirit of Unexpectercise, we’ll keep a sense of mystery. But I can give you a heads up that we've got a partnership on the way with the Koreatown Run Club in L.A. We'll have a block party in September, with details forthcoming.