Rouses Offers Limited-edition Wat-aah! Variety

Wat-aah! #12, a limited-edition variety of the premium line of functional water aimed at kids and teens, is now available exclusively at all Rouses Supermarkets stores throughout Louisiana and Mississippi.

All proceeds from the sale of the product will benefit AMIkids, a Tampa, Fla.-based nonprofit organization that helps kids through education, physical activity, leadership and personal growth.

Wat-aah! #12 was inspired by New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston’s jersey number and the 12 kids he chose from a company-sponsored essay-writing contest held among hundreds of Louisiana kids taking part in AMIkids programs. The water purveyor and Colston will also introduce a website featuring the kids and their essays, and events to honor the kids will take place in Thibodaux, La.-based Rouses’ Franklin Ave. location in New Orleans on Sept. 25 and in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for the game on Sunday, Sept. 23.

“I commend [the kids’] sincere efforts and hard work in light of the adversity and challenges which they shared openly in their essays,” noted Colston.

The limited-edition bottle sports New Orleans’ colors of black and gold, as well as Wat-aah!’s boy logo wearing a #12 jersey. On the back of the label, a blurb from Colston says: “#12 is the ‘number of perfection.’ That's what I strive for in every game. It’s not whether you reach it, but that you try and give it your all.”

Designed for physically active kids, the vapor-distilled water with electrolytes is, like the line’s other products, free of sugar and other sweeteners, reinforcing the company’s mission to promote healthy hydration, physical activity and the fight against childhood obesity.

The item will be offered at Rouses while supplies last, a Wat-aah! spokeswoman told Progressive Grocer.

“We always believe our brand can play a significant role in communicating positive messages to kids,” says Rose Cameron, founder/CEO of New York-based Wat-aah! “In this case, through Marques as a role model and these 12 kids, we hope that other children will be encouraged to maintain a positive approach to life, face the challenges it presents and to give it their all.”