DYNAMISM IN DRINKS: WHO WINS YOUR 2014 VOTE?
Chris Hannaway, Overly
24-year old English entrepreneur Chris Hannaway and his childhood friend Will Hammersley won a slot for their frozen yogurt brand Arctic Farm in Sainsbury’s at the tender age of 19, after guessing boss Justin King’s email address and dropping him a line.
2014 saw them make a comeback with sports drink Overly – a lifestyle drink that uses tongue-in-cheek, brash humour, contains high vitamin and electrolyte levels, and is sweetened with stevia.
Hannaway told Ben Bouckley in July that he and Hammersley chose to swop frozen yogurt for sports drinks because they saw the latter category as, “more dynamic, it’s one we were a bit more passionate about – with the target consumers more like ourselves”.
“Mainstream sports brands have seemingly been in decline for the past few years,” he said, noting the desire among consumers for sports drinks without artificial sweeteners, artificial colors or flavors prior to, say, a game of five-a-side football or after a workout.
Existing options don’t taste particularly great and can look like a bottle of antifreeze at times, he warned.
“We want something that tastes amazing, is all natural and has a lot going for it in terms of the potassium levels of the coconut water, vitamins and that kind of thing,” Hannaway said.
