J320 Brand Appraisal. by Chase McElhaney

Transcription

1 J320 Brand Appraisal by Chase McElhaney

2 Where Gatorade Started Gatorade was founded in 1965 by medical researchers of the University of Florida. It was designed to replace electrolytes lost through sweating and exercise. The first test performance on the field was greatly improved, which helped prove its effectiveness. In 1967, Gatorade was bought by Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. and started to sell as a commercial product. Then, in 1983, the Quaker Oats Company purchased Stokely-Van Camp. Finally, in 2001, PepsiCo bought Quaker Oats and Gatorade became its own brand within PepsiCo. Where Gatorade Stands Today Gatorade has become the top brand of all sports beverages around the world is now sold in over 80 countries and is the number one sports drink by retail sales in 12 countries, including the United States. From what started with just a single, lemon-lime flavored drink, the Gatorade company has evolved into line of thirst-quenching drinks of dozens of different flavors, nutrition bars, energy-chews and the G Series, G Series Pro and G Series Fit which includes primer, performance and recovery supplements for all types of athletes. Gatorade has even came out with its own sub-brand of sports drinks called Propel. These are just some of the transformations that have taken place within this brand that have landed it where it is in our world today. According to The Nielsen Company, Gatorade holds 73 percent of the market share for sports beverages. Its number one competitor, Powerade, has slowly been inclining on the same graph, but still only at 25 percent. However in 2006, Gatorade held 80 percent of the share and that number has been dropping since. Its loss of share in the market has been declining since it introduced a sequel to the original, G2 in Following G2, Gatorade released the G Series, which got a lot of attention at first but may be getting in the way of Gatorade holding its position in the market share. Identity, Promise and Image The role that Gatorade plays in society is thirst-quenching hydration. Gatorade is a top-of-mind brand when it comes to sports drinks. With top-of-mind awareness, it continues to live up to its role by introducing new products regularly, reaching out to every consumer of all frequencies of usage and expands itself to also focusing on water preservation and the environment.

3 The Consumers Gatorade was introduced as a tasteful and nutritious alternative to water for the active person. In 1965 it was a new sort of technology that gained much attention and appealed to athletes who were looking for a way to keep them fueled during activity with the help of electrolytes. To this day, Gatorade has proven itself through extensive lab research to be more efficient for the active body than water and its competitors. A large percent of are athletes or regular exercisers. Many collegiate and professional athletic teams use Gatorade products to distribute among the athletes, coaches and other figures who contribute to the team. That being the case, Gatorade also focuses on athletic organizations as a large percent of the clients of their products. However, Gatorade is also widely distributed to non-athletes. It speaks to this segment of consumers with it not focus on the needs of athletes only, but to non-athletes too who might normally drink water for their source of hydration. For example, a construction worker might drink Gatorade on the job to maintain energy through the replacement of electrolytes lost through sweating. Gatorade offers a tasteful, nutritional and reliable alternative to fulfill this basic, yet important need of all consumers. Like in the example below, it also appeals to non-athletes in the sense of drinking Gatorade for inspiration to live an active lifestyle:

4 Gatora approach to speaking to its audience of consumers usually uses its dominating presence in the world of athletics to communicate the value of their products. Gatorade has an arsenal of professional athletes as spokespersons for the company, and involves them in all kinds of advertising and some for lab testing in their performance labs and institutes. Top athletes like Peyton Manning, Serena Williams, Usain Bolt and Hope Solo all contribute to the hydration and sports drink science research of Gatorade. They are also just a few of the athletes that appear in its TV commercials and magazine ads. Gatorade uses its athletes as a communication strategy to speak to the aspirations of most consumers like the desire to be fit, athletic, healthy or to be a champion. Gatorade benefits from its use of professional athletes because they are both male and female and all participate in different sports. It generally targets males with the use of male athletes and vice versa for females, but then targets the psychographics according to which sports the consumer might play or have a personal interest in. Well known athletes tend to have an aspiring effect on all types of consumers as role models to become a profession athlete or simply just for a healthier lifestyle. For the most part, Gatorade directs its messages towards athletes of different sports. Even though it does not use professional bowlers, dart throwers, croquet or horseback riders (just for example) to promote its products, participants of those and other non-mainstream sports are still targeted through the influence of competition in major sports like football, basketball, soccer or baseball. Competition plays a major role in all sports, and Gatorade promises success and accomplishment with the use of their product within competition. Therefore, it does a great job of speaking to all competitors. The Gatorade Training Camp is a youth clinic aimed at creating brand-loyalty an early age. The training camp was rooted from Beat the Heat campaign, benefits as ways to prevent heat-related injuries. It was a successful campaign because it spoke to parents who fear h and it evoked loyalty to Gatorade to both the adults and the kids. On the following page is an advertisement directed towards both the parents and the kids, and speaks to the desire to become a professional athlete:

5 my days around two-a- l do whatever it takes to help you Here, Gatorade uses companionship along with its influence on future professional athletes to become one.

6 Gatorade is a key player within the sports beverage market. Holding over 70 percent of the total share of sports drinks, this market would be greatly affected if Gatorade were no longer a part of it. All other brands in the sports beverage market would see a significant rise in sales because its top competitor (Gatorade) dominates overall. Therefore, the sports beverage market is a global industry, meaning that the brands within the market must compete on a global/multinational scale in order to survive. Sports beverages have played a significant role in the lives of consumers all over the globe since the invention of Gatorade in It is safe to say that Gatorade is the cornerstone of the sports beverage market. Trends Like most industries and markets in the United States, the sports beverage market is slowly recovering from the most recent recession. Consumers in need of hydration were making more economically smart decisions by drinking more water and slowing down on the consumption of more expensive alternatives like Gatorade or Powerade. In 2008 and 2009, Gatorade and other sports beverages were caught up in a market that was declining at a rate of a they have began to see increases of sale of up to 12 percent. This market is in better position than it was during the recession, and it is projected that its top brands will continue to see growth as consumers start to loosen up when it comes to grocery store budgets. Activity As discussed earlier, it is speculated that Gatorade is slowly losing its market introduction of the G2 and its lengthy and somewhat pricey line of the G Series. Another cause of this also has to do with Powerade recently lowering the prices of their products by 19 percent of the average price for products in this category. Gatorade did see recent increases in the sales of their products Gatorade and G2, and writer Jim -prices product proves It is rare that you see any other brand of sports drink than Gatorade advertised on television, even for its top competitor Powerade. Gatorade sets the bar for how sports beverages are marketed: in associating their products with athletics and physical

7 activity. When you do see an advertisement for another brand, it is usually geared towards the same psychographic. Environmental Factors There has been a push for the demand of lower calorie intake for food and drink products and even so in the sports beverage market. Gatorade contributed to this demand with its introduction of G2 G stays focused on the needs of all of its consumers and regularly adjusts to maintain commitment of the brand within consumers. The problem is that many argue that taking away ingredients like calories or high fructose corn syrup usually distorts the taste of any product, (like Coke Zero or Arizona Arnold Palmer Lite). Gatorade takes this into consideration within all of the research it conducts and, specifically, looks for ways to keep the great taste but manage the amount of calorie and sugar intake. Gatorade sees increases of sales during the hot summer months. Many athletic organizations including high school and collegiate programs take advantage of the summer when their athletes are not focused on school and can dedicate most of their time to practice and improving their skills by testing them in the heat. The overall consumption of sports beverages and especially Gatorade increases during this time. The Competition they sell. It is known mostly for the basic Gatorade or G2 beverage but recently has come out with products like Energy Chews, Nutrition Bars and Protein recovery Shakes. The obvious number one competitor in the sports beverage category is Powerade. selling their sports drinks, now known as Powerade Ion 4, for 19 percent less than the average sports beverage on the shelves. This has much to do with the recent recession; many consumers are still willing to trade their commitment with Gatorade for a cheaper, similar product like Powerade. money, consumers are still under its top-of-mind awareness spell. Even though consumers know about Powerade, it does not hold nearly the amount of TV commercial space as Gatorade. In the last few years, Gatorade has released new products like the Protein Recovery Shakes, which are meant for post-workout consumption to supply ample amounts of protein within the body. Gatorade got most of its ideas for this product from the popular Whey Protein Powders. In this category of sports and performance

8 products, Whey Whey does not have any TV commercials, but advertisements for their products can be found in health and fitness magazines and is a widely popular product for athletes and regular exercisers. Gatorade has also recently introduced its Energy Chews to the consumers. One big competitor in this category is PowerBar, as they are the number one brand for preworkout supplements including their energy chews, but also peanut butter and chocolate energy bars. This is also an interesting competitor because it does not advertise on TV, yet it still seems to be one of the most popular choices for sports supplements with the function of supplying energy for athletes and regular exercisers. Gatorade still tends to stand out amongst its competitors because of the way it advertises and directs its campaigns towards building comittment within its consumers. People really got excited for its new line of pre and post workout products, hoping that they would live up to the role of its competitors that consumers have been choosing to use. The Marketing Mix Gatorade has never been known to focus its communication techniques around price. With it being a well-known brand to consumers of all types, it is reliant on the sports drink market consumers are sold on Gatorade. Gatorade tends to focus on their products and more specifically, the performance and quality. Performance is based on Gatorade is constantly testing new ways to improve the performance of its products in relation to hydrating and supplying nutrients at the same time to athletes and nonathletes alike. With all the concern for the environment these days, Gatorade stands up for causes like the preservation of water and the overuse of plastic in the water conservation within the factory buildings. For example, Gatorade factories now use air ionizers to pre-wash the bottles before filling instead of spraying them with water and wasting the excess afterwards. The factories have also installed new and it has annually saved around 1 billion gallons of water. Gatorade makes efforts to conserve water for the sake of the environment because water is considered by most a scare resource, and without H2O, Gatorade would not exist.

9 My Playlist for Gatorade The music below best represents Gatorade because the songs might be found -tempo sounds sort of sends like a li performance and furthering your athletic capabilities. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Daft Punk Dancing Days Led Zeppelin I Am Not a Human Being Lil Wayne Superstar Lupe Fiasco Fly Like an Eagle The Steve Miller Band Shoot to Thrill AC/DC Satisfaction Benny Benassi Rock That Body The Black Eyed Peas Get Cha Shine On Chamillionaire Rock The Night - Europe