Need to take a chill pill? Beverage makers would rather you knock back a can of calm instead.
Relaxation drinks such as Quebec-based Slow Cow, which tout the opposite effect of energy drinks, are vying for space on convenience store shelves, advertised as “an acupuncture session” in a can or an elixir to “unwind from the grind.”
“People are now seeking for good and healthy drinks,” Slow Cow’s director of communications Keith Whitlock said in an e-mail, explaining his product contains natural ingredients such as chamomile, hops, valerian and the amino acid L-theanine that purportedly help “improve concentration, memory and learning capacity” without causing drowsiness. “We want to ease everyone’s world one can at a time.”
In a market dominated by jacked-up brands such as Red Bull, Monster Energy, and Rockstar, laid-back labels such as Slow Cow, Ex Chill, and Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda are quickly forging a competitive niche.
Slow Cow, whose name and slumped cow logo suggest a wink at rival Red Bull, has sold more than 1.2 million cans across Canada since its launch a little more than a year ago. U.S. brands such as iChill and Drank are planning to enter the Canadian market as well. Drank’s creator Peter Bianchi said he anticipated his product would be distributed in Canada within weeks.
Some health experts, however, are skeptical of these new drinks, voicing doubts of their efficacy and warning of potential heath risks.
Sold for $2 to $3 a can or in shot-sized bottles, many relaxation drinks include the hormone melatonin, valerian root and L-theanine, commonly found in tea, as active ingredients.
All are believed to encourage relaxation, reduce stress and improve the quality of sleep.
Mr. Bianchi said he drinks about three 16-ounce cans of Drank a day and compares the feeling to putting on a cozy pair of pyjamas and kicking back in his favourite leather recliner.
“You just have that nice comfortable feeling of home and being relaxed. That’s what I equate the feeling to be,” he said.
While some beverage makers initially anticipated their key market demographic would be teenagers and young adults, they soon found working parents and frazzled professionals were also snapping up the products.
“We definitely saw … a correlation as the economic crisis deepened, people’s sleeping troubles increased,” iChill marketing director Brian Oberkirch said.
At the same time, people are looking for more natural remedies to their insomnia and anxiety that still allow them to function well, he said.
Mr. Oberkirch compared taking iChill to unwind with having alcoholic beverages at cocktail hour. Only, he said, “alcohol – not only does it not help you sleep as well … the next day, you don’t feel as well. You don’t feel refreshed.”
Mr. Oberkirch said iChill is not recommended for children younger than 13, nor should people exceed the recommended limit of two bottles a day. Users should also avoid driving because the product can make people sleepy, he said. Similarly, Mr. Whitlock said Slow Cow is not recommended for people operating heavy machinery and pregnant women. But otherwise, he said, “there are no caveats [to] drinking too much Slow Cow.”
February 12, 2010
