AG1 Is More Than Just a Greens Powder, CEO Says
AG1 CEO Kat Cole explains why the brand moved away from the ‘Athletic Greens’ name as it looks to continue its rise in the supplement space
In a world of nutritional get-rich-quick schemes and hyperbolic claims about the power of supplements, AG1 is different.
At least, that’s the conviction of Kat Cole, who took over as AG1’s CEO earlier this year after a three-year stint as the supplement maker’s president and chief operating officer.
“AG1 is incredibly comprehensive, daily, foundational nutrition,” Cole told Athletech News during the recent Eudemonia summit, which gathered some of the biggest names in longevity, medicine and fitness, including executives, doctors and influencers, all under one roof.
While it’s marketed as a multivitamin, probiotic and greens powder all rolled into one, Cole is quick to note that AG1 isn’t a silver-bullet product. Instead, it’s designed to be the foundational piece of a person’s nutrition regimen, eliminating clutter in your vitamin drawer, or “supplement stack” as it’s known in industry circles.
“AG1, of course, doesn’t replace everything for everyone, but man does it simplify the foundation of that stack,” Cole says.
A former executive at Focus Brands (now GoTo Foods), the parent company of restaurant chains including Cinnabon, Jamba Juice and Moe’s Southwest Grill, Cole has become something of an evangelist for health and wellness startups.
While some might be skeptical of a former fast-food executive running a supplement company, Cole says she’s deeply connected to the mission of healthy living. The AG1 CEO personally became interested in nutrition during her time at Focus Brands, even becoming an angel investor in early-stage health and wellness companies on the side.
At Focus Brands, Cole worked to get fast-food chains on board with the healthy eating movement in whatever way she could.
“I just tried to make each of the brands as authentic and healthful as possible. For Cinnabon, that meant stick with real sugar, don’t put in artificial sweeteners and launch smaller portions,” she explains. “For Jamba Juice …it meant cutting the sugar while keeping the brand true to what it was and adding in more protein and plant-based options. For Moe’s Southwest Grill, that meant moving to a more paleo-keto bowl structure instead of just burritos and queso.”
After leaving Focus Brands in 2021, Cole connected with AG1 founder Chris Ashenden, joining the company later that year after experiencing its benefits as a consumer.
“I was so passionate about the product, and everything I learned once I got underneath – the quality, the science, the rigor – I was blown away,” she says of her early encounters with Ashenden and the AG1 team.
What’s in a Name? The Shift Away from Athletic Greens
Around that time, the brand moved away from the name “Athletic Greens” in favor of AG1. Cole noted the new branding reflects the reality that AG1 is more than just a greens powder.
The move also allowed the brand to differentiate itself from copycat greens-powder concepts, many of which have entered the market in the years between Ashenden launching Athletic Greens in 2010 and the Nevada-based brand reaching a $1.2 billion valuation in early 2022.
Plus, a name like “AG1” is easier to build around in the future as the company potentially expands its product line.
“We needed a naming convention that could hold future innovation, and ‘Athletic greens’ is a weird thing to try to bend into another product pretzel,” Cole explains. “AG1, you can imagine some of the variations that could occur as we innovate in the future.”
While it no longer has “greens” in the name, AG1 still sells only one product: a powder-based formula that contains 75 ingredients spanning vitamins, minerals, probiotics and whole-food-sourced ingredients, all of which are designed to help people improve their energy levels, cognitive function and gut health/digestion.
Users are instructed to mix a scoop (or travel packet) of the powder into eight to 10 ounces of cold water every day, ideally in the morning on an empty stomach for optimal results. The company notes on its website that it typically takes one to three months to feel benefits.
AG1 has become a hit on social media and has leaned into partnerships with figures including Joe Rogan and Dr. Andrew Huberman, both of whom have touted the product’s benefits on their podcasts.
But Cole says that’s not the main reason for AG1’s impressive sales numbers. AG1 is popular, she believes, because it works for people, and they in turn tell their family and friends, creating powerful word-of-mouth marketing.
“People will say, ‘How do you get that big with one product?’ and there are two answers: One, it’s so high quality, people drink it every day and tell their friends, and that adds up,” she says.
The other answer is that more women and people over the age of 55 have taken AG1 in recent years, spurred by word of mouth but also the growth of the longevity movement.
“Our customer base is 50/50, male and female,” Cole says. “And in the last few years, the acquisition of new customers has skewed female. That was not the case five years ago; it skewed male.”
Leading with Science
Looking ahead, Cole says AG1 will focus more on “marketing the science” of why its product works.
In recent years, the brand has spent a lot of money in developing its research arm, including hiring a team of PhDs to oversee the development of clinical trials on the efficacy of AG1’s formulation. The AG1 website now includes a “research” tab where consumers can see a breakdown of studies on the powder’s effectiveness.
Putting science front and center will be important in the years ahead as AG1 looks to distance itself from competitors, Cole believes.
“That’s definitely one of the ways we differentiate for a premium product, and it’s where the industry is going to have to go,” she says.
Other strategic priorities include exploring retail opportunities – AG1 has been almost exclusively direct-to-consumer since its founding but Cole says as the company evolves it will need to enter more brick-and-mortar spaces to “meet consumers where they are.”
Currently, AG1 has partnerships with select brands in the hospitality, lifestyle, wellness and fitness spaces. In the future, the brand could look to enter the shelves of grocery retailers, although nothing’s been confirmed yet.
New products could also be on the horizon. But Cole says AG1 won’t stray too far from its current offering.
“We don’t want to be everywhere and we don’t want to be everywhere at once,” she says. “(We’ll) stay true to what we are uniquely good at – so incredibly comprehensive, daily, foundational nutrition, which only leads us to a few categories. We’re not going to start selling a million individual bottles of vitamins and minerals.”