The scene people remember when viewing the 2001 film “The Fast and the Furious” its that big race scene where all the racers use NOS (nitrous oxide) to reach unbelievable speeds. Time and space bend when the driver pushes the red ‘go’ button. For some, it’s just a movie, but others are F&F4LIFE thanks to those movies. Gearheads that drive fast cars with loud exhausts and follow the Dogma of Dom living their lives a quarter mile at a time.
And in their car there’s NOS. Definitely NOS.
NOS is the abbreviation of Nitrous Oxide Systems a trademarked brand of go-go gas manufactured by Holley Performance Products. Sometimes called ‘throttle in a bottle’ when nitrous oxide is injected into an engine’s intake manifold, it temporarily increases power by allowing more fuel to be burned. This creates a speed boost made famous in the first race scene of “The Fast and the Furious” (2001) although real world results aren’t quite so dramatic.
After the success of the F&F films, Fuze Beverages saw an opportunity. They were a small manufacturer of vitamin-infused fruit drinks, but had developed their own energy drink with a blend of stimulants and nutrients, including caffeine, taurine, and vitamins B6 and B12. Fuze joined the growing energy drinks market with Red Bull and Monster, but marketed it as NOS Energy Drink to appeal to the automotive-enthusiast, street racer, F&F crowd.
More than just licensing the NOS name from Holley Performance, the marketing brain-trust at Fuze developed NOS Energy Drink packaging to look like actual nitrous oxide tanks in that distinct anodized blue colour with an orange valve knob as the cap. The look was a bit of a gimmick, but it really appealed to the gearheads with the tagline ‘human horsepower‘.
In early Fast & Furious films, go-fast parts like the HKS Turbochargers or GReddy Power Exhaust systems were utilized so the movie cars would have proper street credibility. But how many cinephiles are really in the market for a NOS Single-Fogger Wet Nitrous System for their daily driver? NOS Energy Drink allowed for product placement in future F&F films, as if it were a bottle of Corona.
The best example of product placement occurs during a short scene in Fast & Furious 4 (2009).
Undercover cop Brian has infiltrated a drug cartel as a drug runner. but the evil henchmen are scanning the cars for tracking or surveillance bugs. Realizing his cover is about to be blown, and his life put in grave danger, Brian cracks open his dashboard, rips out the FBI’s bug and throws it into an open can of NOS Energy Drink sitting in the cupholder. That’s genius level marketing! A lucrative connection between the fictional, high-speed world of F&F movies and the real-world NOS Energy Drink available at the local 7-11.
NOS Energy Drink has doubled down on its appeal to automotive enthusiasts by sponsoring many forms of motorsports. Well known NASCAR racer Kyle Busch competed in the No. 18 NOS Energy race car, and was part of “Team NOS” which consists of Formula Drift driver Chris Forsberg, and Ultimate Drift Brasil driver Erick Medici.
Needless to say, NOS Energy Drink was a huge success, and eventually The Coca-Cola Company bought Fuze Beverages outright for USD $250 million in early 2007, which included the licensing agreement with Holley Performance Parts. Now, more than 20 years after its introduction, NOS Energy drink is still popular with gearheads, selling an estimated USD $490 million annually, making it #7 on the list of most popular brands of energy drinks and the #1 favourite drink of the Demaras Racing team!
Goodness and I must be out of touch not being one to consume those drinks I have never heard of it.