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BadgerMax out, Aspire in.
On Monday, the University of Wisconsin announced a new two-year partnership with Aspire to be the official sports drink supplier to all of its athletic teams.
One could be forgiven for never having heard of the University of Wisconsin’s newest sports drink partner, Aspire. After all, it is a relatively new company and Wisconsin’s partnership with the Edina, Minn. based company was the first of its kind too.
However, dig a bit deeper and the partnership only seems to make complete sense. Just as the Badgers make a move to Under Armour, they also decide to partner up with a sports drink that is associated with and modeled very much on the way UA grew early on in its business life. So much so that Aspire sponsors Under Armour events, including its annual high school All-Star games.
It also makes sense when you understand what the sports drink is really about — being natural as possible.
Aspire, which was only brought to the public market in 2012, prides itself on five different flavors of sports drinks and all of them without artificial flavoring, coloring or sweeteners in the drink.
Forward thinking and the University of Wisconsin? Who would’ve thunk.
Lest you think the Badgers went in to business with the enemy, this was a very Wisconsin story. First is the bottling being done in Random Lake, Wis. and then second was a relationship between the owners and a pair of Badgers from the first trip to the Rose Bowl in the 1990’s.
According to Andy Baggot’s story on UWBadgers.com, this was all set up thanks to the relationship between former Badger QB Brooks Bollinger and offensive lineman turned UW associate AD for business development.
“He brought it to my attention as an interesting, innovative product that is making waves in that category in the market,” McIntosh said.
That gave way to a meeting last fall between UW Athletic Department officials and two 40-something Minnesota graduates, John Montague and Jesse Parker, partners who introduced Aspire to the masses in 2012.
There is also a Badger tie thanks to one of the investors in the business, former UW men’s hockey player Ryan Suter, who now plays for the Minnesota Wild in the NHL.
Even the owners admit to spending more time at the University of Wisconsin than they did as students at the University of Minnesota.
Soon, the story will come full circle as the Badgers could be in on the ground floor of one of the most innovative sports drink products in a few decades.
The post UW becomes first collegiate deal for Aspire sports drinks appeared first on Madtown Badgers.
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