THE NEW CRAZE IN ENERGY PRODUCTS: NRAGE
Posted on | April 23, 2007 | 2 Comments
ALL THE RAGE: A NEW ENERGY PRODUCT PROFILE
By: Rich Bergeron
NRAGE Energy Strips are fast becoming the new best friend of every fighter who uses them. These ultra-thin caffeine strips are convenient, practical, and effective, especially for fighters out there trying to shed pounds and get a jolt at the same time.
Fight News Unlimited recently caught up with Paul Giordano, the Chief “Energy” Officer behind this revolutionary product.
“I’ve been at it now for four years,” said Giordano. “Since then the product’s constantly evolved. Now we’re really bringing it out into the marketplace.” Inspired by Listerine’s Pocket Packs, Giordano envisioned something with a little more pop to it and made caffeine the active ingredient while also keeping the breath freshening capability intact.
“I knew that the future of delivery for active ingredients was going to be in edible film technology,” he explained. “There’s so many energy drinks in that category, and consumers really needed to have something new, convenient, and something that didn’t have the side effects of other products, which could be anything from consuming too much sugar to having gastro-intestinal problems like acid reflux you can get from taking pills. If you’re taking pills with caffeine, it’s not healthy. Consumers really haven’t had many choices for an effective caffeine-based energy product, other than pills and drinks, so that’s what really inspired the strips. They’re more effective, convenient, and more health conscious, and we create them without having to have all these other ingredients.”
Giordano went on to explain that the best quality of the product is the way it is absorbed. “It’s the fastest delivery of caffeine possible,” he said. “It’s a sublingual delivery system, and the menthol in it makes the nasal passages open up, so the caffeine is delivered immediately through the tongue and gums. You don’t have to deal with getting bloated from liquids or the harshness of pills, and it’s convenient. You carry around a little cassette you can put right in your pocket, and you have a bunch of them in there. With energy drinks and pills, you get one use and you’re done. NRAGE gives you several uses. The caffeine they give you is equivalent to what’s in 6 Red Bulls. So it provides convenience, fast delivery, and there’s no carbs, no calories, and no sugar. If you need to make weight, you don’t have to worry about it.”
One strip weighs a mere 58 milligrams, a tiny fraction of what’s found inside a typical can of liquid energy. Right now the company employs Neotame, which is 13,000 times sweeter than sugar, as a sweetener. In the future they will employ Sucralose, which Giordano noted is “approved worldwide” while “Neotame is relatively new.” He also pointed out that the amount of Sucralose in a sugar-free cake is astronomical compared to the trace amounts found in his strips.
The company is quickly making inroads in the fight game, with connections being made in MMA and boxing circles.
“We have actually done stuff with Gleason’s Gym which is the most famous gym in the world out of Brooklyn, New York,” said Giordano. “We’ve got Vivian Harris and Zab Judah using the strips. We can break in, but with MMA there is such explosive growth. It’s hard to make a comparison with boxing, because it’s so established now. Boxing has matured, as far as growth in boxing, and I really don’t know how much more it’ll grow, but MMA is gonna continue to grow, and it hasn’t even matured yet.”
NRAGE started introducing their strips into the MMA circles in November of 2006. “Their training regimen is more grueling than any other athlete’s. They have to have most grueling regimen there is in any sport,” said Giordano. “A lot of fighters take different kinds of products to give them energy, and some of them may not be good for them. NRAGE offers a caffeine boost with menthol in it to clear the nasal passages without filling the fighter up on liquids, without the harshness of pills, and providing pretty much instant energy and fresh breath… for close grappling.”
Giordano recognizes that the sport of MMA is an ideal breeding ground for marketing his product to the masses as the sport expands and grows exponentially. “What’s great about it is MMA is a very viral community. Every fighter is looking not only to make it and to get a break in MMA, but also at the same time every fighter is promoting the sport,” he said. “As a community it’s just tremendous how viral it is and how fast the sport is spreading. Just by word of mouth, NRAGE is starting to spread from fighter to fighter.”
Just a few fighters who rave about NRAGE are: Mikey Burnett of “The Ultimate Fighter” fame, Chris “The Grinch” Reedy, Alan “Stryker” Stamp, Alfie Buck, Jason “Live Wire” Von Flue, Adam “Mayhem” McEndree, Greg “Country Boy” McDowell, Shannon “Sinister” Elliot, Nate White, and Brian Baker.
“Honestly, there has not been one fighter we’ve sent product to who hasn’t loved the product,” said Giordano. “We’ve got all of team Norsemen taking product, Dead End MMA taking, THUG Fight Wear, and other whole teams. Brian Baker we just signed a sponsorship with. Jason Von Flue is someone we’re working with, and he trains out of the same gym as Chuck Liddell. He’ll be fighting in Strike Force in June. His big sponsor is TapOut, but we’re also a sponsor for him as well. Then there’s Ring of Combat. We’ve got a lot of fighters that are affiliated with Ring of Combat using NRAGE.”
McDowell offered the following ringing endorsement in the comment section of NRAGE’s MySpace profile: “NRAGE Energy Strips have to be the best thing out on the market. I have never had a product that has given such a clean energy burst without the jitters. NRAGE Energy Strips give me what I need to complete a full work out. Thank You, NRAGE, for being true to your word.”
Giordano is excited about where the MMA movement might take his product. “A year from now we could end up being one of the biggest sponsors out there,” he said. “The good thing about it is the buzz is just starting a little bit now. So many people in the MMA community don’t even know about it yet. MMA is just a great way for our product to get our street cred. If it’s good enough for an MMA athlete, it’s good enough for any athlete. It works.”
It’s all about building up the product name and getting the strips into stores down the line for Giordano. “We want to build the brand nationwide and worldwide. The ultimate goal is to build a whole culture around it in all sports,” he said. “Major league baseball is a big area we’d like to get into. A lot of baseball players drink energy drinks, or they take caffeine pills. Even though in baseball the game may not be nearly as physically challenging as MMA, they’re playing every day and they’re on the road a lot. It’s more of a mental fatigue, but it’s physical fatigue as well, and this is really a perfect product for baseball players to use. Right before they run onto the field, they can pop a few strips, or even right before an at bat, it works that quickly, and it wakes you up that quickly. It’s something that’s not filling you up or slowing you down and making you feel lethargic. We’re also gonna look to break into the NFL.”
NRAGE is also appealing to women. Right on the company’s home page, and on their MySpace page, there is a Channel 11 news clip featuring the strips. The product featured prominently on a show called “Daily Candy” in a segment promoting new products. “The show represents a woman’s point of view. So, the product is now accepted in the women’s community,” said Giordano.
What makes the product so unique and marketable, however, is not that it’s so useful for just athletes or just women. NRAGE can be equally effective for everybody who takes it. “Our goal is to really create a product not only for all athletes, but also just for every day people. Anybody in the gym, college students, office workers, truck drivers and other people who need to stay up at night, and just anybody who could use a little more energy to get something done,” explained Giordano. “We’re working so that everybody can go into a 24-hour convenient store and buy a pack of NRAGE at the counter.”
To learn more about NRAGE go to their Main Web-site at: NRAGEUSA.COM
or their MySpace page at: MYSPACE.COM/NRAGEUSA