Monday, June 25, 2012

Mark Wahlberg talks to Parade Magazine

Parade Magazine talked to Mark Wahlberg about Aqua Hydrate. Here is the interview:

Mark Wahlberg may have jumpstarted his career with an iconic underwear campaign for Calvin Klein, but the actor-producer isn't looking to have his likeness grace billboards again anytime soon.

For the past few years, the actor has been working to relaunch Aqua Hydrate, the water brand he owns (Jack Nicklaus, Ron Burkle, and Sean "Diddy" Combs all sit on the board of directors).

"I got into this by accident. I had no desire to be in the beverage business," he said over lunch in Bevery Hills on Tuesday.

"I was training for The Fighter and a friend brought this guy in with a case of water. He started telling me about reverse osmosis and all of this organic stuff and I said, 'Dude, I don't know what you're talking about. Leave the water and I'll try it.' I started drinking the water—I usually drink a gallon or a gallon and a half of water a day— and I immediately recovered quicker, started running eight instead of seven miles a day. So I said I love the product but wasn't in the beverage business so I couldn't help them. But then I started talking to people and decided I wanted to get involved somehow."

But don't expect him to grace billboards like Jennifer Aniston does for SmartWater. "Probably not," he said when asked by Parade. "I don't think anyone wants to see me on a billboard anymore. But we do want the top athletes and we'll have very interesting people endorsing the product."

The water has a supercharged pH9 level, which makes it the most alkaline drink you can have (sports drinks are about a 4.5, coffee is a 5, and standard bottled water is a 7 on the scale that runs from 1 to 14). This helps rehydrate your body faster and allows it to return to homeostasis with less energy expended. Not quite convinced by the celebrity backing? It's the official beverage for the Men's and Women's USA Water Polo Team and is used by over 40 professional athletes.

How does Wahlberg get his kids to drink water? Read on below!

How Diddy became involved.
"I was in Vegas at a fight and Diddy comes up to me and goes, 'Where's that water? Where's the water?' And I told him not to worry about it since it was for me not for him. He said he always wanted his own water so we started talking and then Ron Burkle came on. We feel like we have a special product and we did all these clinical tests against all the premium waters and energy drinks. There are a lot of big athletes who drink the water even though they get paychecks from other drink companies. There is no shortage of people who want to be the face of the water. We're talking the biggest and the best."

Water at home.
"I fly the water everywhere since when I drink other water now, I can taste the acid. And my kids won't drink any other type of water. We want to have the water in all the school systems and have them drinking Aqua Hydrate instead of sodas. My kids are allowed to drink orange juice or lemonade in the morning or lunch but after that, they only have water. They only have water in their lunches. My three-year old can't even pronounce it but he tries to ask for it. They love it. We used to buy Poland Spring or Sparkletts. You can surround them with other drinks and they won't touch them now."

Helping the boys overseas.
"We have a lot of momentum with the miltary. At one point we were in 53 military bases. I went over to Afghanistan personally to bring some water. The soldiers are having dental issues and they're drinking Gatorade. When I went over there, there was all this water sitting in the sun that weren't in BPA-free bottles."

Unconventional uses.
Wahlberg told a story of helping a director recover from a very raucous night in Las Vegas. When the director was in bad shape after a long night of drinking, Wahlberg had him drink the water. "The next day he was on the set at 7 am. He had written a song called Aqua Hydrate and was singing it with one of my co-stars. And one of our partners who likes to drink vodka, he owns a vodka company, drinks the water to recover as well. It's pretty good stuff. Someone also says if you have the blue bottle, you don't need the little blue pill."

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