The University of Texas is turning to a new direction to help raise scholarship funds.
UT fans say they live orange and bleed orange, now they can say they drink orange too.
Monday morning the University unveiled a new UT-themed water bottle. It is shaped like the symbolic UT Tower and it is called H2Orange.
“It’s the image carried in our memory when we think of this place. What better image to use in the services supporting future generations of Longhorns,” said UT President William Powers, Jr.
If there is one thing anybody knows about UT it is the school spirit. The burnt orange colors fly high. When you look around campus you will see orange on pretty much everything. About three years ago, a UT alum who went on to found the marketing company GSD&M Idea City thought of the idea to add burnt orange water bottles to that list.
“I loved the idea as soon as I saw it,” said investor, Russell Korman, “I fully do not expect to get one penny back from my investment. If we do (get money back from our investments) that’s fine, but I feel like it’s solid, and it will collect a lot of money for the University.”
Creators Steve Gurasich and Tim McClure of GSD&M Idea City, along with UT President Powers unveiled the product.
H2Orange will be on shelves beginning in late August around the time the new school year begins. Money from every bottle sold goes toward scholarship funds at the school.
The water in the bottles is purified Texas rainwater that flows into the Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi.
H2Orange will be sold on campus, at grocery and convenience stores, select restaurants, and bars. Plans are also in the works to sell the bottled water Online.
The bottles have a slogan: “Drink water, bleed orange, fund scholarships.”
The goal is to raise $1 million every year for the next 10 years.
