Liquid I.V. is giving its marketing an F1 injection

It’s shaping up to be a hot one in Miami this weekend.

That could be good news for Liquid I.V., which for the second year in a row is serving as the electrolyte drink mix and “functional hydration partner” of Sunday’s Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place in the city.

Liquid I.V.’s hydration sticks are meant to help athletes (and anyone in need of hydration, like, say, people with hangovers) replenish their electrolytes, making Miami’s already hot and humid climate and an event featuring athletes who are known to lose a lot of water during races an ideal opportunity for the brand to tell its story and get product into people’s hands, CMO Stacey Andrade-Wells said.

“The more we can offer that experience [of using Liquid I.V.] to people in real time when they’re dehydrated, we’re far more likely to convert them to loyal users of the brand,” Andrade-Wells told Marketing Brew. “For 2025, our big theme is we’re going bigger, we’re going better.”

Stick the landing

Last year, Liquid I.V. introduced its field marketing initiative at the Miami Grand Prix, where brand ambassadors handed out samples during race weekend and at subsequent events like college sports games, marathons, and pickleball tournaments, Andrade-Wells said. Since then, the brand has “scaled it out quite significantly,” she said.

During the weekend of the Miami Grand Prix last year, Liquid I.V. ambassadors handed out 190,000 sticks around the city, according to Andrade-Wells. This year, the goal is to hand out a quarter of a million, she said.

In addition to the giveaways, Andrade-Wells said brand awareness is a major KPI for the two-year partnership, which is now in its second year. Given the growing US audience for F1, she said she’s looking to build brand equity not just in Miami, but across the country. That audience includes an increasing share of women, which was part of what made the partnership attractive to the Liquid I.V. team; more than half of the brand’s customers are women, Andrade-Wells said.

“Professional racing has just become such a cultural phenomenon,” she said. “It’s this really interesting intersection of sports, entertainment, and hospitality, and for us, it created an opportunity to position Liquid I.V. as a frontrunner in that space.”

With last year being Miami’s hottest May on record, Liquid I.V. was able to demonstrate how its product works—not only for professional athletes, but also for the pit crews, workers, fans, and broader Miami community who were sweating it out.

Heating up

This year, Andrade-Wells said Liquid I.V. is turning up the heat. Beyond upping the ante on sampling, the brand is making a few other adjustments for this year’s race weekend. For one, Andrade-Wells’s team is focused on highlighting the science behind the product, with “far more of an immersive sensory experience” that shows people how Liquid I.V. helps with dehydration, she said. Liquid I.V. also created a co-branded product with F1 for the first time, Andrade-Wells said, an “mystery flavor” with F1 branding that’s available online and that race attendees will be able to taste over the weekend.

The brand team is looking to make the F1 experience accessible to fans who aren’t on the ground, too. In an effort to do that, the brand is creating behind-the-scenes social media and influencer content with partners including Williams driver Alex Albon and former Haas principal Guenther Steiner.

“If you’re at home and you’re enjoying F1 digitally, we want you to be able to see what it’s like on the grounds,” Andrade-Wells said.

But one F1 fan will get to experience race weekend in person. After someone spent the past year commenting on Liquid I.V.’s social posts asking for the chance to attend, the brand opted to cover expenses for her and a plus-one to come to Miami, Andrade-Wells said.

Though this weekend marks the end of Liquid I.V.’s deal with the Miami Grand Prix, the brand isn’t done with F1 for the year, as it’s off to the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November. Andrade-Wells said she’s not quite sure exactly how Liquid I.V. will show up at that race yet, but hinted that it will be “very similar to our approach to Miami.” After that, Liquid I.V. doesn’t have any further F1 deals locked in just yet—but that doesn’t mean motorsport fans have seen the last of the brand.

“We are committed to continuing to focus on sports partnerships as a key space within our marketing strategy,” Andrade-Wells said. “The environment is changing so quickly that it’s hard for me to commit to something right now. I think we’ll have to see how Year 2 goes.”