The queue started forming in the pre-dawn drizzle on Thursday morning, with bleary-eyed parents and a handful of teens all waiting anxiously outside Aldi in Reading.
As Jon Stangroom and his 13-year-old son Oscar took their place, they knew the next few minutes would be crucial to their success: buying a single bottle of sports drink.
Prime Hydration, a 25-calorie concoction of coconut water, electrolytes and zero-added sugar in 500ml of vaguely fruity liquid, is the result of a collaboration between YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul, former boxing rivals who have teamed up to create marketing magic.
It’s been on sale in the US for a while but recently launched in the UK, and teens who spotted the message on TikTok that Aldi would be selling Prime for one day only were quick to spread the word to their mates in the hopes they’d each be able to get hold of one.
Dad-of-two Jon knew how much it meant to his teenage boy, so got up early to queue. “It’s sold by Asda but it’s usually out of stock, so the combination of hype and scarcity means that all the kids want it,” he said.
“People are even selling empty bottles on eBay and Facebook, which is ridiculous, but it’s become a bit of a status symbol. The corner shops and off-licences around here are selling it over the counter for £9, when it’s normally £1.99, so you don’t often get the chance to buy it at its retail price.”
Viral footage from Thursday has shown adults, teens and children all scrambling to get hold of Prime bottles - which come in ice pop, blue raspberry and lemon lime in the UK - after Aldi announced it as a special buy.
Outside their local store, where Jon and Oscar were waiting, staff told customers they were limited to buying one of each flavour per shopper, but with around 200 people lining up, not everyone would be going home with a bottle.
“There wasn’t really any control so there was a bit of a bun fight,” Jon said when the doors finally opened.
“It was like a shallow fridge and all the Primes were at the bottom, so people were bent over scrabbling for everything they could get. There was a security guard just standing there who didn’t tell everyone else they’d already sold out within five minutes.”
Megan Dorian, founder of Orange PR and Marketing, agreed KSI (real name Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji) and Logan have marketed Prime in a way that directly appeals to their teenage audience.
“In their launch video, Logan says, ‘well we don’t know about drinks, we’re the underdogs’, so they’ve very cleverly marketed themselves,” she explained.
“Everyone roots for the underdog. KSI is part of the Sidemen group of YouTubers, and they’ve all got millions of followers and millions of views too, so they’re not having to do typical advertising where you pay other people to do it; they’re doing it because it’s their friend’s brand.
"People are recognising that the buzz around Prime is feeling a lot more authentic.”
Megan went on: “In their launch video Logan drops coffee down his shirt, and even the fact they’ve included that makes it feel more authentic.
"These guys could have been in dry, clean, polished suits in a boardroom, but in that video they’re saying ‘I’ve never done a photoshoot for a drink before, how do I pose?’
"Of course they would have researched it, it would have all been signed off by a team of people, but by including that it helps market Prime as them not knowing what they’re doing.
"That really appeals to teens. Teens want to see the fun part, the engaging part, not the boardroom meetings where they go through the flavours, the packaging, the logistics of getting it out and so on.”
Every clip that went viral on Twitter, each reaction video and tweet about Prime helps to feed into the hype, she pointed out.
“The bottles are aesthetically pleasing; a lot of people aren’t buying them because they like the flavour, they’re doing it because they like KSI and Logan Paul,” Megan said.
“You’ve got people doing tasting videos, which always perform well on social media, so I think the product itself has sold but it’s also the exclusivity, people want to get hold of them so they can do their own videos.
"People are selling just the empty bottles so others can just use them for social media - it’s a bit like the millennial generation at school all wanting the Jane Norman or Hollister bags for their PE kit.”
And it’s not just teens who are buying Prime. “I’ve seen on Facebook and Instagram, parents asking to do swaps with other parents. It’s like Pokemon cards again, it’s that exclusivity of the product.
"It’s a bit of a club too for the children, they want to feel included and try all the flavours. It’s like this generation’s version of the football cards we used to swap at school,” the marketing expert added.
“I can’t think of any products in recent times that have been so successfully launched. TikTok has been a real authentic growth strategy for brands, but for Prime to have dominated the news, it’s part of everyday conversation.
"Even my 60-year-old dad asked me on Christmas Day what Prime is because he’d seen it on the news. I’ve not witnessed such authentic growth where YouTube and TikTok have blown this out of the water.
"For young people watching Logan and KSI, they’re like, ‘I could do this too’.
"They’re aspiring to be like these YouTubers. I’m seeing parents posting on Facebook admitting, ‘My child doesn’t even like the flavours, they just want the bottles!’
"They’re walking around with a Prime bottle to take to school, but they could have squash in there for all anyone knows.”
Oscar, who is in Year 8, managed to get hold of the ice-pop version and a lemon-lime flavour, which he gave a solid 8.5 out of 10.
“He won’t take them to school but he’s displaying them on his windowsill,” said his dad, Jon.
“Whatever these YouTubers are doing to generate hype, it’s working. Queuing for ages is a weird thing to do when you think about it, but you do it to keep your kids happy.”
