Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Accelerade Report #1

ORN: Monday, 5; Tuesday 3, Wednesday, core strength

A few weeks ago, I
wrote about my offer from Accelerade; they’d send me 30 bottles of their endurance drink in exchange for me writing of my observations on the product. Here’s part one…illustrated no less.

In about six days after I accepted their offer, two large boxes arrived. Exactly as offered, I had thirty 20 oz bottles of Accelerade in a variety of flavors. Good move…they did just what they said they would do.

Now, you need to excuse me a bit…in my professional life I’m a
process geek; I love manufacturing, the people who work in manufacturing and the process of manufacturing. My central theme is eliminating waste, getting rid of non-value adding activities, relentlessly improving. So I see waste and value, almost as a genetic predisposition. Therefore, when I opened the box, I was surprised and puzzled by the presence of 15 bottles of Accelerade and one space filled in with a rolled up piece of bubble wrap. Why the bubble wrap? Why not make an offer of 16 bottles for free, fill the box with drink bottles and send one full box, not two?? I’d still do the deal, I’d still get free drink and it would cut the overall marketing cost, be easier to fill the box, not ship air and plastic in the form of bubble wrap. I dunno, but that was an observation.

I gave the drink itself its first test ride that night. I was set to umpire home plate at a Little League tournament game in 95 degree heat. I grabbed a bottle of the red flavor and also mixed up a bottle of Gatorade, my usual drink and figured I’d have a chance to compare the two in a very sweaty setting.

I was surprised.

The Accelerade actually tasted fine. Particularly in the heat, between innings, I found the taste to be quite acceptable, without aftertaste. I drank it steadily, with some big gulps and had not a single talk-back from my stomach. It seemed to quench the thirst and sat well. It clearly tasted better than
GU2O. It was less sweet than Gatorade but it didn’t taste like it was trying to teach me a lesson or harass me for not always buying free-range chicken. Neither did it taste trendy. It was a clean, simple taste that went down well.

The game went well and I had no fans question my linage or my eyesight. I have since used the Accelerade in a couple more ball games and one long run. I’ve had similar reactions while running. I took the drink in full strength and it sat fine on the stomach. I usually mix Gatorade powder at about a 1/3 strength to drink when I run.

One question I can’t assess yet; how do I measure their claim that Accelerade increases endurance by 29%?? I saw this ad during ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball this week (did I tell you I like baseball??) and for the life of me, I don’t know how I’d assess this. I’ll keep thinking and drinking and keep you posted.

Peservere.

10 comments:

Karen said...

To measure the effectiveness, try this:

a) Use your normal 1/3 strength Gatorade and make a note of the time of your first needed swig.

b) Calculate the distance that Accerade would have lasted you as

0.29x=Gatorade distance *3

c) Next run (on a day with the same temperature and humidity conditions) set the Garman to buzz at distance x.

d) are you thirsty?

How about that, dear brother!! It all stems from our dear foundation in 9th grade Algebra with KLH!

Karen

Karen said...

In my opinion (FWIW), the extra space in the box was a clever attention getter. You noticed, didn't you?

I would NOT participate in the survey for only 15 bottles of free stuff. For 30 bottle, I doubt that I'd bite, but if they offered me 240 bottles, I'd take it..... and they would not need to stuff bubble wrap in any of the 15 boxes.

Again, thanks 9th Grade Algebra!!

P.S. I'd mail the bottles all to you!

Wes said...

Joe, did you experience the dry mouth syndrome? I've had two people mention that, and you are the second person that did not.

Sarah said...

Do you think the marketing guys realized what they had gotten themselves into when they asked you to assess their product?! : )

I wonder how the pre-mixed drink differs from the powder. I generally liked it, but found the drink mixed from powder to be a bit gritty/thick (even at less than full strength).

Thanks for the report! Looking forward to the next one.

Backofpack said...

I don't know who's funnier - you or your algebraic commenters!

I have never tried Accelerade. I'm not a big fan of sports drinks in general. I do like my chemical cocktails of crystal lite and zip-fizz though!

Running Chick said...

For me, I'm interested in how I feel *after* the workout, especially the next day. One of their claims is that the protein will aid in muscle repair and recovery.

I noticed that when I used the Accelerade powder for marathon training last year I wasn't as 'wiped out' after a long run. But it's difficult to tell if that was from training adaptations, or the Accelerade. To truly test it's effectiveness, one would have to be careful to control the other variables.

I'm going to test it out this weekend, and drink some Accelerade while cycling on Saturday and see if my legs feel less heavy for my run on Sunday.

IronWaddler said...

Great write up. You are the first review that has stated it quenched the thirst. I love the algebra. Currently I am using HyrdoBoom (by Carboom) I like the taste and thirst quench. Keep us updated with this hot weather.

Uncle Nathan said...

As both a marketing professional, someone who hires warehouse personnel and your son I believe I know the answer to your box of drink question. The marketing guys got together and found out how much Accelerade it would take for someone to both study it and accept the offer and they detrimed it would be 30 bottles. Without thinking they told the warehouse guy who make 9.50/hr to send you 30 bottles. Given both the "mental depth" and motivation of said worker he decided instead of find a both that would hold a correct combination of bottles and not waste space, he put 15 bottles in the box closest to him. See Dad sometimes the person that puts no thought into an operation, but is still charged with executing a task creates waste. Hope that eased your mind.

Karen said...

So, Nathan thinks you've overanalyzed Joe---(again??)

Nice observations by your son!

Karen

David said...

Thanks for the drink recap. I like Zipfizz like backofpack. What really matters?

Go Red Sox!!!