• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer, February 21, 2006

Never underestimate the power of brand loyalty. For every 100 consumers loyal to a product, there's likely one who's not just loyal but who lives and breathes the product to a fault. We're talking borderline obsession.

The proliferation of blogs has enabled passionate brand loyalists to spread their affinity for a product online while simultaneously proving they're not alone in their brand devotion. Here's a look at three passionate beverage brand loyalists who blog about their favorite brand.

Darren Rovell started drinking Gatorade when he was 8 years old. "I wasn't the best athlete, and drinking Gatorade made me feel like I was a part of the sports. I bought into the whole sports marketing aspect," he says.

All grown up and now a sports business reporter for ESPN.com, Rovell is more commonly known in the blogosphere as the Gatorade Guy (www.firstinthirst.typepad.com). Rovell launched his blog in May 2005 as a promotional tool to promote his book on Gatorade, published last August. He soon realized that the blog served as a way to keep tabs on his favorite brand.

Rovell has become an authority on the brand and now has what he deems a "working relationship" with Gatorade. "I am their biggest fan and their biggest critic," he says. Gatorade sends Rovell samples of products to rate and review, but he never cross-pollinates content between his day job at espn.com and his "side project." And get this: Rovell emphatically says that he would never allow Gatorade to sponsor his blog.

While Rovell keeps his work life and his pastime separate, Scott Lewis, founder of Dunkin' Donuts Talk (www.dunkindonutstalk.com), would welcome the opportunity to work with his favorite company. The brand doesn't sponsor his blog but Lewis "would love to be hired as a consultant by Dunkin' Donuts." A consultant by day, Lewis launched his blog a year ago as a joke to quiet his business partner, who constantly commented on Lewis' love of Dunkin' Donuts.

Three people post content on the blog: Lewis, his business partner, and a regular reader of the blog. Lewis realized that Dunkin' Donuts was aware of the blog when he received a phone call from the company regarding an inaccurate posting. Dunkin' Donuts had received numerous phone calls referencing the erroneous post. The site garners 750 readers a day, most of them unique visitors, which means that even if a mere fraction of those readers called Dunkin' Donuts' headquarters about the posting, the company's phone lines were probably jammed. Despite the minor snafu, Lewis maintains a good relationship with the brand and occasionally has products sent to him.

It could be worse. What if you loved a brand, blogged about it, yet had no sign that the company behind your beloved product knows you exist? Call it unrequited brand love.

According to the Barq's Man, a.k.a. Michael Marx, few people from the Coca-Cola Co. are familiar with his blog (http://thebarqsman.com). The root beer brand has never contacted him personally, but Marx recently met with an executive from Coca-Cola who was unaware of, though excited to hear about his blog. "Higher-level execs don't know about blogging," Marx notes.

As a self-proclaimed walking ad for Barq's (Marx wears a Barq's T-shirt in high traffic areas), Marx became hooked on the brand during his freshman year of college. He was so into the beverage that he started writing to the address on the label to opine about how much he loved the product. His writing paid off, as Barq's sent him stickers and coupons for the soft drink.

Marx's unofficial Barq's blog launched in November 2004. Since then, ad agencies have contacted Marx to compliment him on his blog, although none were associated with Barq's, which would have been even nicer. The blog serves as "a way to keep the brand alive," he says, adding, "There are not that many brand devotion blogs out there."

For the time being, at least.