BodyArmor has started to become a staple in the sports drink category over the past few years and the brand hasn’t been shy in taking on its biggest competitor, Gatorade. After receiving a significant investment from Coca-Cola in ‘18, the company has put its focus on signing big-name athletes as endorsers and disrupting the sports drink space. BodyArmor VP/Marketing MICHAEL FEDELE is at the center of it all, making sure the brand is in good shape for the present and future. Fedele, who this week was named a '20 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, recently caught up with THE DAILY to share what his day-to-day is like at BodyArmor.
5:00am: I wake up early and make coffee first thing, have a bowl of cereal and open my laptop. I will initiate and send or reply to anywhere between one and three dozen emails.
6:30am: My kids usually wake up now, sometimes earlier. I help them get breakfast in the morning and try to spend time with them before I head out for the day. That time together can be anything from doing homework with my son, who’s in first grade, to coloring with my daughter, who’s in kindergarten. Just to hang with them for a little while in the morning is always pretty special before it gets crazy.
7:00am: I try to get in a 30- or 60-minute workout most days of the week, at a minimum five out of seven days. Anything from body weight exercises to free weights, bands, coil work or going running outside. I bought my wife a Peloton about 18 months ago and I may use it now as much as she does.
Fedele always enjoys spending time with his kids before he heads out to work for the dayMICHAEL FEDELE
7:30am: I've got about a 40-45-minute ride from my house in Connecticut to our office in Queens. On my way, I’ll do phone calls, check in with my team. I'll also listen to SiriusXM or something on Apple Music.
8:00am: I'm usually one of the first people in the office, probably 8:00 or 8:30 most mornings. I use that time to get situated and finish emails that I didn't get to before.
9:00am-noon: I’ll set up any priority meetings or have some meetings and get updates with my team. We'll set up time in the morning to go through certain projects and catch up.
Noon: We order lunch in every single day. There's no walkable place and we're always so busy in meetings or having conversations that we rarely leave the office for lunch. Some favorites are Nikitas Mediterranean grill and a great salad place called Health Kitchen. There are probably a dozen places that we have on rotation.
1:00pm: The fun part about BodyArmor is that the afternoon is really where magic happens. That's where we're cranking on all of our priority projects, whether it's innovation and packaging, new products or label changes and new packaging for the following year.
2:00pm: We host a number of athlete partners periodically -- JAMES HARDEN, MEGAN RAPINOE, MIKE TROUT, DUSTIN JOHNSON, DONOVAN MITCHELL, SKYLAR DIGGINS-SMITH -- and they care about the brand. Most of them are shareholders; they're all equity holders and investors in the product. When they are in N.Y., they want to swing by and catch up. We’ll take them through business updates, and they'll come and meet some of our employees.
3:00-7:00pm: I work with the senior management team -- co-Founder & Chair MIKE REPOLE, President BRENT HASTIE -- and each of the corresponding departments on the overall strategy for the company and specifically the marketing side. We’ll sift through 2021 planning sessions. There are also national marketing campaigns. I've got brand management, communications, partnerships group, internal creative, so anything and everything marketing related, my team has the opportunity to touch.
8:00pm: I’m on my way home. When I do get home at a decent hour, I’ll usually see the kids before I go to bed -- hopefully read my son or daughter a story. I’ll see my wife, talk about the day. I'll watch sports when my wife's not changing the channel trying to watch “RAY DONOVAN.”
9:00pm: I usually answer emails with my team at night as well, simultaneously watching TV or hanging out. Mike Repole likes to work the 2:00pm-2:00am shift. I don't want to say we work 24/7, but the reality is that it is unorthodox compared to most normal 9:00-5:00s and I wouldn't want it any other way.
10:00pm: I'm usually trying to crash at some point between 10:00-11:00. I’m usually good at a minimum five hours of sleep, maximum seven.
(Note: This interview was conducted before the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant, who owned a 10% stake in BodyArmor.)
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