Why Gatorade Is Losing Its Zip
According to Advertising Age, the “hydration category” king, Gatorade, has been losing share to new coming rivals. The three billion dollar plus brand as become a bit winded lately. Two decades ago, Gatorade owned 93 percent of the market, however, last year Gatorade dropped more than 10 share points. Now Gatorade only controls 82 percent of the market share. While the sport drinks category gained a value of 2.5 percent last year, Gatorade volume just went up 1 percent. With more than 200 new sport drinks, there is no doubt Gatorade is struggling with volume gain. Many believe that Gatorade is stumbling because of the new “thirst quencher” line they set out to market. However, others believe that Gatorade’s messages have not been consistent through out the years. The historically strong message that was built around the sports drink does not differentiate Gatorade from the crowded category anymore. Instead it is becoming un-noticed and vague. What do you think?
I’m a little surprised because Gatorade is a household name and I know consumer purchase Gatorade because of brand loyalty. However, at the same time I knew this was going to happen sooner or later because of the upcoming competition. Being in a crowded category (because of the new comers) is partly responsible for the competitive losses of Gatorade. Before the competition, Gatorade was the only sport drink that people could identify with. I use to play sports and the only fitness drink that I consumed was Gatorade. I was unaware of other fitness drinks in the market. Another cause could be that consumers are just now finding out that Gatorade really isn’t that healthy for them. When you think about it, Gatorade includes a bunch of chemicals and high fructose syrup. But now that there are other alternatives than Gatorade to choose from why not switch over to its competitors if they offer a better and healthy alternative (in most cases)? I believe that Gatorade took it a little too far when they decided to introduce its thirst quencher series (Fierce, Frost, X-Factor, Xtremo, A.M. and Tiger). I personally think that creating all six new beverages were a waste of Gatorade’s time because no one is paying attention to them. I also feel that Gatorade advertising messages are too generic, its time for them to become more creative and reposition themselves over their competition. When I view Gatorade commercials, I don’t see its products benefits and attributes that much and I definitely do not see what sets them apart from others in the hydration category.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=126538
posted by R.Wilson @ 5:20 PM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
I think that Gatorade's intentions were good when they released the thirst quencher series. They were tring to get a piece of the sales in the new and upcoming flavored water market. However, until reading this blog, I had never heard anything about it. My roommate just walked into the room drinking the Frost flavor of the thirst quencher series, and I asked him why he bought it. He replied, "Because its Gatorade, I figured it would be good." So, the brand loyalty is there. I think it is just a matter where better advertising methods should be used to get the word out about the new products.
The Gatorade thirst quencher series was a good move for Gatorade. It allowed them to better compete with the other sports drinks in their category. Many Gatorade drinkers are very brand loyal, I know that it's always my first choice of Sports drink. As for the Gatorade advertising, I have always considered it very smart. It always features the most successful and popular sports figures of the season in a way that you see Gatorade working through the colored sweat coming off of the athletes. Gatorade does need to step up their advertising, possibly increase the frequency, as their ads are not on quite as often as they used to be. In my opinion, a lot of the new sports drinks and flavored waters are part of a new fad that will eventually fade, but as long as Gatorade keeps pushing strongly along their brand loyal customers will always think of the sports drink as the premiere choice in its category.
I think Gatorade has so much brand loyalty, that people will never really lose taste for it. No matter what new drinks come out on the market, and there are like 50,000, I still find myself always buying lemon-lime and cool blue gatorade, which I used to drink as a little kid at soccer games and whatever else. They may be losing some of their share just because of all the "defragmentation" in the sports drink category and all of the different choices, but I don't think they will ever lose their customers. They just need to continue promoting gatorade to new generations, and I think the drink will speak for itself in years to come. Powerade, arguably the second biggest sports drink, has been around since I've been little too, but there is something about Gatorade that just makes it better for some reason. I feel like if you asked other people my age, they would say the same thing.
I agree that Gatorade has a lot of brand loyalty. With all of the new "quenchers" I think people may be turned off. Personally I stick with what I know when many brands overwhelm me and I think many customers may do the same.
I guess this is one of those situations where only time will tell
Maybe the problem isn't the brand loyalty becuase I agree that many consumers have grown up with Gatorade and think of it as their first choice. Maybe the problem is more of a recency issue now more than ever in an over-crowded category. If you think about it, sports drinks are bought without much thought. They are inexpensive and consumed quickly. So, maybe Gatorade is the brand you are ultimatley loyal to, but it isn't the first thing you have seen or what advertising messages you have heard that day.
In another note, Gatorade commercials in my opinion show their benefits effectively, it puts back what you sweat out. However, consumers have heard this message time and time again so it may be losing its effect. If Gatorade can put a new message out their, maybe it will spark some curious or new interest in the product.
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