H2Orange®, a new purified Texas water in a unique scale-model replica of the iconic University of Texas at Austin Tower, will raise millions of dollars for academic scholarships, fellowships and internships at the university, it was announced today by university President William Powers Jr. and GSDandM co-founders Steve Gurasich and Tim McClure.
Gurasich and McClure, the G and M in GSDandM, created H2Orange to help more deserving students attend The University of Texas at Austin. Every bottle of H2Orange purchased will help reach the goal of raising $1 million annually for the next 10 years and beyond.
“H2Orange represents a first-of-its-kind partnership between a cause-marketing movement and The University of Texas at Austin,” Powers said at a news conference announcing the initiative.
This is the first time that the university’s iconic Tower has been licensed for a consumable product and H2Orange is the first project to combine an iconic water bottle with funding for academic scholarships at a major university.
“Our battle cry is ‘Drink water. Bleed orange.™ Fund scholarships.'” McClure said.
H2Orange fans will be able to see the impact of their purchases online at www.h2orange.com, where the dollar amount raised for scholarships will be updated regularly. Contests, partnerships and other H2Orange news and events will be announced and discussed on the Web site and on Facebook and Twitter.
“Through social media channels, Texas Exes and H2Orange Ambassadors we hope to inspire hundreds of thousands of ‘H2Orangebloods’ to join the cause,” Gurasich said. “Our aim is to take word-of-mouth to a new level by rallying UT fans to not only buy the water themselves, but also to tell friends about it and make sure their grocery stores, convenience stores and other favorite establishments proudly carry H2Orange.”
H2Orange will be introduced with significant distribution in Austin and select distribution in major Texas markets as it rolls out this fall. H2Orange will be available at grocery and convenience stores, in select restaurants, bars and retail outlets, and in multiple locations across The University of Texas at Austin campus. Participating retailers will be updated on the H2Orange.com Web site. Plans are in the works for H2Orange to be available online for University of Texas at Austin fans outside of Texas.
H2Orange has been named the official water of the Texas Exes tailgating parties, and the water will also be available at the Etta-Harbin Alumni Center, home of the Texas Exes in Austin, so that proceeds may also benefit the Texas Exes Scholars program.
“H2Orange is a win-win-win for the university, for Texas Exes and for deserving students,” said Jim Boon, executive director of the Texas Exes.
Gurasich and McClure are life members of the Texas Exes, and McClure recently updated the branding used by the Texas Exes today, including a banner that says “‘Til Gabriel blows his horn.”
H2Orange is “Texas Purified” to achieve optimum purity and taste. Texas rainwater collects in three Texas rivers — the Atascosa, Nueces and Frio — that flow into Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi. The Corpus Christi Municipal Water District purifies that water to exacting Environmental Protection Agency standards, then the Oneta Bottling Company further purifies H2Orange, using a combination of activated carbon, ozone, ion exchange, reverse osmosis and deionization.
H2Orange Investor/Ambassadors include alumni such as former national champion quarterback James Street, World Golf Hall of Famer and golf legend Ben Crenshaw and Red McCombs, benefactor of the university’s McCombs School of Business.
The University of Texas at Austin Tower is one of the university’s most recognizable symbols and an iconic architectural landmark for Austinites, Texans and Texas Exes around the world. The 307-foot-tall Tower, designed by renowned architect Paul Philippe Cret, was completed in 1937. Through the years, the Tower has been the university’s most distinguishing landmark and a symbol of academic excellence and personal opportunity. Based on Beaux-Arts principles of balance, axial arrangements and symmetry, the Tower formed, in Cret’s words, “the image carried in our memory when we think of the place.”
For more information about H2Orange, including a list of Texas retail outlets by zip code, go to www.h2orange.com.
