How GLP-1 Users Consider Energy Drinks

The bottom line up front

GLP-1 status reshapes a consumer's relationship with energy drinks in ways that age, income, or gender do not. Where adults broadly treat the category as a daily utility, GLP-1 users are more purpose-driven and deprioritize that occasion by 7 points, the largest absolute CEP shift in the study. The occasion hierarchy looks different for GLP-1 users: workout readiness, breakfast replacement, and functional ingredients all gain. Monster Energy, the second-largest brand by mental market share, loses 3.5pp in the segment and narrows in occasion breadth. Starbucks Triple Shot Energy expands mental penetration in the segment; ZOA more than doubles its MMS; Celsius gains on functional association strength and emotional connection. Functional, occasion-specific brands hold stronger CEP associations, but no brand has consolidated a dominant position here, and access friction is the primary thing slowing adoption.

Who we mean by GLP-1 users: In this study, we are including both current users (13% of respondents) and past users (14% of respondents). As with the overall sample of adults, this study was just conducted amongst “category non-rejectors” or those who actively buy or are open to buying energy drinks.

In this briefing, we use the Category Advantage research framework. A few terms you should know:

• Mental Market Share (MMS) measures a brand’s "mental availability"—how often it comes to mind, compared to competitors, when consumers think of buying in a category
• Category Entry Points (CEPs) are the specific needs, motivations, situations, or feelings that trigger a consumer to consider a product category and the brands within it
• Network Size refers to the average number of distinct usage occasions or buying situations that consumers mentally associate with a brand

The Category Today

Red Bull and Monster remain the category's mental market leaders, but they are reading differently in the GLP-1 segment. Red Bull holds ~23% mental market share (a brand's share of all purchase-trigger associations in the category) among the general adult population, and its position strengthens among GLP-1 users: mental penetration climbs from 72% to 84%, the largest absolute gain among the two market leaders. Monster runs at ~17% mental market share among Adults and slips to ~13–14% among GLP-1 users, the only market-leader brand to lose ground. Its network size falls from 10.3 to 9.2. Monster's mental associations are concentrated in everyday-utility occasions — convenience store grab (~37%) and energy boost (~36%) effectively tied at the top, followed by travel, flavor, and long-shift occasions. Of these, energy boost is the one GLP-1 users deprioritize most, making it Monster's highest-risk association in the segment.

Celsius and Starbucks Triple Shot Energy are the functional association standouts in the segment. Celsius holds ~8.5% MMS among Adults and leads or ties for brand association on “Getting ready for a workout or physical activity” (~32% Adults, ~40% GLP-1 — Red Bull and Alani Nu within 1 point at each cut) and on “Looking for functional ingredients like vitamins or electrolytes” (~34%, tied with Alani Nu). Among GLP-1 users, its emotional connection score climbs from 3.4 to 4.2 on a 7-point scale, the largest EC gain of any brand in the 5–9% MMS tier. Starbucks Triple Shot Energy earns 81% MPen among GLP-1 users (+11pp vs. Adults), the highest of any brand outside the top two. It leads or ties “Replacing coffee with an energy drink” at both cuts — ~34% Adults (with Red Bull and Alani Nu), ~40% GLP-1 users (Red Bull ~38%). Coffee-forward energy positioning fits the GLP-1 meal occasion profile.

ZOA Energy and Black Rifle Coffee show where emotional upside concentrates among GLP-1 users. ZOA has 7% awareness among Adults and 0.6% MMS. Among GLP-1 users, its MMS more than doubles to 1.5% and mental penetration climbs from 53% to 72%. Its emotional connection score moves from 2.8 to 3.8, and among ZOA-aware GLP-1 users, 44% say they will definitely purchase it, versus 27% of ZOA-aware Adults. Black Rifle Coffee shows a parallel pattern: EC rises from 2.9 to 4.5 among GLP-1 users, the highest of any brand in the set for that segment, and “definitely will purchase” jumps from 24% to 48% among brand-aware GLP-1 users.

Alani Nu is the category's consistency standout. It posts ~72% mental penetration on 20% awareness among Adults, matching Red Bull's efficiency in an audience four times smaller. Among GLP-1 users that MPen holds steady (+2pp). Its MMS slips slightly to 2.6% in the segment. Alani Nu leads on flavor (“Wanting an energy drink flavor I enjoy,” ~42% brand association) and mood (“Wanting a mood boost,” ~37%). Among people who already know Alani Nu, the brand converts well; the ceiling is awareness.

The Moments That Matter

Purchase recency confirms elevated engagement: among brand-aware GLP-1 users, 46% purchased Red Bull in the past four weeks (vs. 38% of brand-aware Adults), 47% purchased Monster (vs. 39%), 39% purchased Celsius (vs. 30%). The question is which mental associations accompany that elevated purchase behavior.

Monster is the one market-leader brand losing mental ground. Its MMS falls ~3.5pp and its network size narrows. The losses concentrate on Monster's core everyday-utility occasions: long shifts, flavor, convenience-store grab, and the daily energy-boost trigger. Functional and performance occasion associations are flat to slightly positive.

Across most other brands, GLP-1 users expand mental penetration substantially. ZOA gains +19pp, Bang gains +21pp, Reign gains +20pp, PRIME gains +17pp. These brands have modest total-population MMS but an outsized mental footprint in the segment.

What's Blocking Conversion

Price barely moves. Access and format do. Cost is the most-cited barrier among Adults at ~28% and holds nearly flat at ~29% among GLP-1 users. The barriers that spike are structural: “Variety packs or trial sizes aren't available” jumps from 12% to 18% (+6pp), “The size/format I want isn't available” from 11% to 17% (+6pp), “Not sold where I usually shop” from 14% to 20% (+5pp), and “Delivery fee is too high” from 12% to 17% (+5pp). Price remains the top barrier for GLP-1 users at ~29%, but it is not the incremental driver; access and format gaps spike more sharply.

The trial format gap is specific and actionable. Brands gaining mental ground in the segment (ZOA, Celsius, C4, PRIME) have the most to gain from trial-enabling formats.

Health-profile alignment is underserved at shelf. “Lower-sugar or zero-sugar options aren't available” reaches 20% among GLP-1 users (+4pp vs. Adults). Given the segment's interest in functional and health-aligned products, sugar-reduced format gaps are an acquisition barrier current distribution does not address.

Why This Matters Now

The GLP-1 segment is not a niche — at ~27% of the study population it is already mainstream within the category. Their higher emotional connection to functional brands, tilt toward fitness and cognitive occasions, and active management of ingredients mirror the preferences of the broader wellness-oriented consumer. Brands that earn mental availability here are building position in a segment that is not going away.

Functional CEP associations are not yet consolidated. Across workout readiness, functional ingredients, and breakfast replacement, no brand yet owns any occasion cleanly. The ~24% “None of these” on the functional-ingredients occasion is open space. Brands that build consistent presence here claim positions that are hardest to dislodge later.

Expand trial format availability for functional SKUs. Smaller trial formats reduce the friction to first purchase for brands gaining in the segment (ZOA, Celsius, C4, PRIME) that have elevated GLP-1 mental presence but lack the broad awareness needed to drive impulse purchase.

Build distribution in health-adjacent channels. The “not sold where I usually shop” barrier spikes 5pp among GLP-1 users. Pharmacy, specialty health retail, and delivery-enabled SKUs directly address this gap.

For Monster, the lever is occasions, not awareness. Monster's MMS and network size both decline among GLP-1 users while purchase recency remains high (47% past-4-weeks). It earns fewer CEP credits than its purchase volume suggests. Workout, recovery, and focused productivity are the argument. Broader reach will not close a CEP gap.

About this research

Morning Consult conducts over 30,000 daily proprietary surveys in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands and 50 economic indicators. 

Our category advantage research is aimed at understanding the needs driving consumers in your category — and how your brand can own more of them. This research is built on validated principles of brand-driven growth and powered by Morning Consult’s industry-leading sampling technology.

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