The Geeks Shall Inherit: Mana Potions

Once upon a time, people who sat in their basement pretending to be gnomes and people who built things with robot parts and laser pointers were considered, um … not that cool.  Then YouTube happened.  And people who made World of Warcraft characters dance to Right Said Fred or built gianormous Lego rubber band guns had a place to be, you know, like that.  In short, as was always in the cards, the geeks had inherited the Web.

Enter Mana Potions, the first energy drink created “by gamers for gamers.”  The guys at Mana don’t just talk the talk; they make videos shockingly like those that’d be created by their potential customers.  Ever wondered if you could hook a treadmill up to WoW and have your character run as fast as you do?  Well, you can, and they did it, and they’d be happy to tell you how.  Does waiting in line for the new iPhone make you feel like taking a gun to your head?  The Mana dudes have a Bluetooth for that.  It’s called the iGiveUp; you can get the specs here.

Sure, the Internet is full of strange geek-born creations.  Gamers create WoW stories and draw Onion satire.  There’s even a pilot series, Player Haters, about the lives game characters lead when we slip away for some meatloaf.  Enterprising engineers can craft you an interactive whiteboard from a Wii remote, a burning laser, and an onion-based iPod charger.  And we certainly don’t lack for web series that are subtle or not-so-subtle ads. 

But Mana (whose name comes from a long tradition of RPG gaming) is different.  They are their own target demographic.  They don’t just robotically fling flaming bowling balls through the desert; they tell how they did it, because they know their audience would want to know.  Do the vids push the product?  No.  They don’t need to.  If Martha Stewart came to your house and made your bed, with perfectly coordinated colors and crisp hospital corners, you’d buy her sheets without her even asking.   And if you were inclined to down energy drinks and do ambitious and geeky things, then watching these videos would probably sway you to make your potion of the Mana variety.

Selling your product by being your own best consumer.  Getting it.  Having fun and taking your customers with you.  And being incredibly accessible.  (If having an email address just for death threats isn’t user-friendly, I don’t know what is.)

Call that geeky like a fox.