50 Cent Helped Build a $4.1 Billion Brand—Next Stop: Shreveport

Over twenty years ago, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson took what was a small, growing brand and helped rocket it to worldwide attention. If 50 could do it for Vitaminwater, then we can trust that he'll help bring Shreveport the same worldwide fame.

A Small Beverage Company Looking For Fame

Glacéau is a brand you probably recognize thanks to its two best-selling products, SmartWater and VitaminWater.

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Before the company was bought by Coca-Cola and renamed to Energy Brands, though they still use the Glacéau branding, the company was selling their enhanced waters only through local retailers in New York.

The smaller local market wasn't a red flag for the brand; by 2001, there were over 4,000 retailers in New York carrying the brand's drinks.

Rohan Oza was working at Glacéau in the early 2000s when the brand was looking to expand its marketing, and at the same time one 50 Cent was looking to expand his work as a marketer and spokesman.

A Multi-Million Dollar Drink Deal Thanks to 50 Cent

In 2004, 50 had told his manager he wanted to be a spokesperson for a bottled water brand, and so they began searching. 50's manager got in contact with Rohan Oza to let him know, 50 is interested in being the brand's spokesman and that 50 himself was actually a fan of the drink.

50 was, at the time, sponsored by Reebok, so Glacéau did a test run while 50 was filming for a Reebok advertisement. They gave him a bottle of VitaminWater to drink from in the Reebok ad.

After the commercial wrapped filming, 50 was given a spokesman and shareholder deal, which gave him a 10% stake in the company as well as his own "Formula 50" grape flavor of VitaminWater.

Over three years, 50 Cent's partnership with Glacéau helped bring the brand's sales from $100 million to over $700 million, and that $700 million caught plenty of eyes.

In 2007, Coca-Cola came knocking and asked to buy Glacéau. The deal would go through, and Glacéau would be sold to Coca-Cola for a total of $4.1 billion in cash. From that deal with Coca-Cola, it's estimated that 50 made anywhere between $100 million to $400 million.

If 50 Cent could make a brand of flavored water with vitamins in it worth billions of dollars, why couldn't he do for Shreveport with the millions of dollars he has already invested into the city?