DOWNTOWN — Santa Monican Cameron Killeen was in Las Vegas last summer for his job in finance when he noticed a co-worker, who had been out drinking the night before, sipping a brightly colored liquid out of a square bottle.
“He said it was a baby drink and if you drink it, you feel completely better,” Killeen said.
The liquid with the healing powers was Pedialyte, the stuff doctors and mothers give kids to rehydrate after being sick. Killeen had never heard of it before, but decided to try it a week later after a night of drinking.
It worked.
Meanwhile, across the country, his friend, Brandin Cohen, who worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, saw players guzzling the stuff to stay hydrated. Killeen and his friends noticed the liquid drink was based on oral rehydration therapy, or a liquid solution used to counteract dehydration.
Last fall, Loyola Marymount University graduates Killeen, Hayden Fulstone and Cohen decided to come up with a drink of their own battle the dreaded hangover, make it all-natural and healthy and target those who went overboard at the bar, as well as sports athletes and people who lead active lifestyles.
After months of research with a beverage consultant, Santa Monica-based Liquid I.V., a play on the I.V.s found at hospitals, was born, bringing another product into the already crowded sports drink market, which is expected to hit $55 billion in sales by 2018, according to a report by companiesandmarkets.com
(Photo courtesy Liquid I.V.)
The sector has grown strongly in recent years (up 64 percent from 2007 to 2012); with less than 50 percent penetration there is significant room for further growth, industry experts said.