AGUA PLUS ANNOUNCES JUWAN AND JETT HOWARD AS BRAND AMBASSADORS
JUNE 6, 2023 – Plus Brand Industries is thrilled to announce that former NBA All-Star and current Head Coach of the Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball team, Juwan Howard, along with his son, the Michigan Wolverines Big Ten All-Freshman and current NBA Draft prospect Jett Howard, have joined the Agua Plus alkaline water family. The talented father-son duo are teaming up with Agua Plus in order to help facilitate continued brand awareness of the rapidly growing alkaline water brand, known primarily for its unique solution to bottle confusion thanks to All-Scratch! Technology; a unique non-toxic and biodegradable label ink that allows customers to scratch their name, initials, picture or any identifying mark directly on the bottle in order to reduce waste and stay healthy.
“It’s the clean taste that got me at first.” said Juwan Howard when asked about what it is he loves about Agua Plus. “No odd aftertaste that gets in the way of enjoying it. That and the bottle shape; It seems odd to say but it’s just so easy to grip and hold onto rather than bulky and awkward. But as soon as I realized the built in tech to solve bottle confusion I had to laugh! I Facetimed Jett who is obviously out on the road a lot these days with the draft coming up and showed him the bottle saying ‘Check this out! Remember how we always used to tell you guys when you were wasting bottles, to put your name on it?’. He laughed right along with me, remembering how his mom and I used to get on them all the time about not wasting bottles. We would have to collect all the half used bottles and water the plants with them! It was such a waste.”
An original member of the famed Fab 5, considered by many to be the greatest recruiting class of all time, Juwan Howard has pieced together a career that many growing up only dream of. A key member of the first team in NCAA history to start five freshmen, Juwan went on to be drafted fifth overall by the Washington Bullets in 1994 and won two NBA championships with the Miami Heat; even going back to the University of Michigan for the summer of ‘94 to complete his Communications Degree in order to fulfill a promise to his grandmother and set an example for other student athletes.
“That degree meant so much to me as a man, as a leader, as a father” said Juwan about what he refers to as his single greatest accomplishment in life thus far. “It’s important to me to actively pursue meaningful opportunities and that is exactly what I believe we are doing in partnering with Agua Plus.”
The collaboration will feature Juwan and Jett through several exciting moments coming up in the month of June, including Father’s Day and the 2023 NBA Draft. Following a successful freshman season at the University of Michigan which included averaging 14.2 points per game, Jett has demonstrated amazing potential for success at the NBA level and positioned himself well coming into the draft.
Jett shared his own enthusiasm, adding “My dad and I have worked together on so many things, growing up learning the game of basketball but also how to carry myself as a man and make the most of opportunities. I see this is a great opportunity that aligns well with the importance I place on my own health and career. It’s such a cool bottle and it’s pretty amazing how the All-Scratch! is quite literally the answer to all the waste we caused as kids at family get-togethers. It makes Agua Plus really unique which gets me excited!”
Plus Brand Founder and CEO Chad Willis sees the partnership as the perfect fit. “With a lot of our growth focused on Michigan and the surrounding Midwest regions right now, who better than two individuals with such deep Michigan roots. Both Juwan and Jett possess a work ethic and charisma that sets them apart while also just being really quality individuals. As we build the Agua Plus brand we ultimately see it as building a family and so everytime we partner with someone we ask ourselves whether they possess the qualities that we want to add to the family and in this case the answer was a resounding yes. Being from Michigan myself I really couldn’t be more proud.”
Agua Plus will focus several in-store, digital and out-of-home (OOH) advertising campaigns on both Juwan and Jett that will serve to support awareness of the product and technology in order to drive traffic to the company’s amazing distributors and retail partners.
“Juwan and Jett are recognizable brands unto themselves” added National Sales Director George Zrinyi. “Agua Plus is able to leverage that awareness to bring more attention to our amazing product and technology and we don’t take that for granted. We’re thankful and appreciative for the generous support of the Howards and plan to steward it well in order to maximize the benefit to both parties, as well as the communities in which both the Howards and Agua Plus give back through various initiatives.”
Plus Brand Co-Founder and COO Adam Gauer summed things up by saying “With a business and a brand that is growing as fast as Agua Plus, it’s very easy to get lost in the day-to-day and tempting to approach everything as transactional. We consciously fight that temptation with every fiber of our being in recognition of the fact that people are what ultimately make a business. Every employee and every company partner is creating impressions on behalf of the brand each and every day with those in their spheres of influence. It is for that reason that I am so confident in our new partnership with Juwan and Jett. They are quality people who will, without even needing to think about it, respect and value their interactions with those around them and in doing so, create the right perception of the brand we are all working so hard to build.”
If you are a retailer looking to be serviced by a DSD distributor that offers Agua Plus, please feel free to reach out to info@plusbrand.com in order to be connected with one in your region. Plus Brand is committed to supporting wholesale customers with localized marketing and brand awareness campaigns like those featuring the Howards in order to build demand within the regions served.
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