A Drinks Purple Reign

Newsweek:

Flanked by a Ferrari, a Maserati, a Bentley, a Rolls-Royce and a Lamborghini, Dallin Larsen paced the stage, swigging deeply from a bottle in his hand. “I’ll tell you what,” said the tanned 49-year-old, opening his arms to the 4,000-person crowd, people are “looking for something they can count on, they can depend on, that’s constant.” The stirring scene would not be out of place at a megachurch revival—except Larsen’s event, organized this June in Orlando, Fla., was bent on earning sales rather than salvation. The object of hope was not God but a dark purple fruit juice called MonaVie.

The rich syrupy blend of Brazilian açai (pronounced “ah-sigh-ee”) berries and 18 other fruits has gained a cult following among those who say it can kill pain, disease and malnutrition. Packaged in wine bottles like the one Larsen gripped onstage, MonaVie retails for around $40 a pop and isn’t available in stores. Instead, the Utah-based company tore a page from the Avon lady, enlisting regular people to sell the product to friends and family. Now MonaVie claims to be one of the world’s fastest-growing private companies, with inroads on five continents, and an army of drinkers and sales apostles signing up at a rate of 10,000 a week. Earlier this year, the company announced that cumulative sales had topped $1 billion and that it had signed its millionth unsalaried sales person. “We’re blessed,” says Larsen, who founded the company in 2005. (As a private organization, MonaVie isn’t required to publish financial data, making such claims difficult to judge.)

In a sliding economy, MonaVie appears to buck the trend, minting dozens of mom-and-pop millionaires, according to company sales data, and luring customers who rave about the not-too-sweet taste and miraculous health benefits. In NEWSWEEK interviews and proliferating online videos, people testify to MonaVie beating back cancer, curbing anxiety and controlling the symptoms of autism. Among the converted are former Daytona 500 champ Geoff Bodine, who credits MonaVie with helping him recover from one of the worst crashes in NASCAR history; Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, who says it will help him live another 50 years (he’s 85); and Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, who sells the stuff on his MySpace page.

Meanwhile, most of the million-strong sales team is really just drinking the juice, according to MonaVie’s 2007 income disclosure statement, a federally required printout of their distributor earnings. More than 90 percent were considered “wholesale customers,” whose earnings are mostly discounts on sales to themselves. Fewer than 1 percent qualified for commissions and of those, only 10 percent made more than $100 a week. And the dropout rate, while not disclosed by MonaVie, is around 70 percent, according to a top recruiter.