Gatorade Advertisement, Essay Example

Gatorade is one if the leading non-carbonated sports drinks aimed to rehydrate the body after or during the physical exercise. The global market for sports drinks is expanding very fast, reaching over $200 million in the UK only; projected volumes in the United States are obviously times higher (Thomas, J. 2009). The industry of sport beverages is not new, but the competitors on the market are not yet settled. PepsiCo with Gatorade and Coca Cola with PowerAde are the main players, but there are more.

In 2008 Gatorade went through a massive rebranding in order to position itself as the best rehydrating non-carbonated flavored sports drink. The advertising campaign, started in the autumn of 2007 came to its peak in winter 2008, during the Super Bowl. PepsiCo used a complex approach to advertising in order to create maximum buzz over the rebranding of the sports drink. A set of commercials were set on TV and radio a month before the Super Bowl. These ads were did not give the name for the product itself and simply featured a large letter “G”, with a number of famous sportsmen, such as Serena Williams and Tiger Woods claiming that “G” stands for gifted, glorious, golden, etc (Swansburg, J. 2009). After the month long wait, most of the American TV viewers were desperate to know what the sport stars were actually advertising for. During the Super Bowl Sunday the mystery was revealed, as Gatorade officially claimed that “G” is their new emblem. This one of the very successful advertising samples, though a very costly one. TV commercials during the Super Bowl are a luxury that few brands can afford.

The massive TV campaign did not reach its goal – the sales of Gatorade drink did not experience a shard increase and kept declining slowly. The main reason for this failure might have been the lack of targeting – Super Bowl is watched by the broadest audience possible, while Gatorade is rather a special drink, aimed at the people that actively practice sports. Moreover, the TV commercials failed to work to their full capacity, as the younger generation, usually most active in sports, tends to spend less and less time at the TV-sets, preferring Internet as the main source of information. Gatorade did launch a new website, rich with flash animation, telling about the new product line of the company, but ignored other ways of attracting attention to the brand.

I suppose that the Internet space is one of the best media sources to run a successful advertising campaign for Gatorade. Internet ads can be targeted with fascinating precision. For example, any website related to sports like football, tennis, basketball or golf can have a direct link to the Gatorade website, or simply advertise the drink with the help of banners. Facebook.com – the world’s largest online community provides great opportunities for targeted advertisements. With relatively low costs, Gatorade can gain a quite a lot of attention to its rebranding, and, what is even more important, target the two specific needed groups – sportsmen and young active people.

In order to market the product successfully, three steps need to be followed:

1. Create a clear message of what Gatorade stands for and what it tries to bring its consumers (When you dedicate a lot of efforts and strength to sport and a healthy life style, Gatorade restores it)
2. Present this message in a form that gains attention and remains in the memory. It should be a combination of informative and persuasive techniques. Informative may not motivate well enough, while persuasive may become too annoying and eventually disappoint the consumers. Informative part of the advertisement should explain that athletes loose fluid with perspiration, which is an obvious natural reaction of the organism. Gatorade restores the necessary fluids and minerals. Persuasive part should use true authority to make the sportsmen use Gatorade – prove that the sport stars actually use exactly this product while trainings and competitions.
3. Launch a massive targeted campaign in the Internet and at sport-related facilities (sport clubs, stadiums, sport shops, etc)

Internet is chosen as a main advertising media for its growing popularity, relative cheapness and high efficiency. IT solutions allow minimizing the advertising costs, introducing the per-click payments and give a start to an entirely new era of targeted ads. This makes sure that the direct consumer is affected by this or that advertisement, while TV commercials are too expensive and become less efficient with the development of the Internet.

References

Koslow , S. 2000 “Can the Truth Hurt? How Honest and Persuasive Advertising Can Unintentionally Lead to Increased Consumer Skepticism” Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 34

Swansburg, J. 2009. “What’s Up, G? The mystifying, abysmal new ads for Gatorade.” Retrieved June 26, 2009 from: http://www.slate.com/id/2211282

Thomas, J. 2009. “Gatorade ad campaign focuses on sports and sweat.” Marketing Magazine. Retrieved June 26, 2009 from: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/905569/Gatorade-ad-campaign-focuses-sports-sweat/