Gatorade Marketing Strategy

1.4 Product positioning map

Two key attributes that are important in the sports beverage industry are the availability of the product and the variations of the product that exist.

Availability:

• Gatorade: Can be found in all consumer stores and also in various online shops.

• Powerade: Can be found in most consumer stores and also in various online shops.

• Bodyarmor: It is not found in large consumer stores but in small convenience shops and speciality shops and in some online shops.

Flavours and variations:

Gatorade: 50 years ago Gatorade started from a simple lemon flavoured hydration beverage and now it has evolved into 21 different flavoured electrolyte beverages (Gentile, 2016).

Powerade: There are fifteen different flavours and

Gatorade is targeted to athletes, who need to replenish the electrolytes and hydrate themselves after a workout or game and hence it is targeting people with interest in sports (Flaherty, et al., 2016).

2.1.2 Demographic segmentation

Teenagers are Gatorade’s target market, and this is evident when they released the new G Series drink in the Market targeting 13-17 year olds, whilst the G Series Pro is targeting athletes with ages 16-24 years (Gaille, 2015).

The product can be marketed in various ways and hence anyone who performs any kind of sport or exercise whether or not they are professional or non-professional athletes can fit into its demographic segmentation. The brand’s strategy is hence an undifferentiated one, in order to be able to go after the whole market and reach the majority of consumers (Flaherty, et al., 2016).

Looking at the demographic survey data in figure 4 it can be noticed that in the US Gatorade consumers are mostly Hispanic followed by African American, have a very high income and are middle to upper middle aged. 17% of the consumers decide to buy Gatorade whilst at the store (InfoScout,

Promotions play an important part in attracting these consumers and must be kept in mind in order to have a successful marketing mix.

• Information search

Customers are mainly carrying out their research from internet search engines. Information can be also obtained from reviews and recommendations left by other consumers (the influencers). At this point the consumer would see the advantages and the disadvantages of the product and carry out a risk management process.

It is important for the brand to see that its product range is perceived well amongst its consumers and that any negative misconceptions should be cleared out.

• Evaluation of alternatives

At this stage the consumers which are the deciders make the final choice on which brand / product they will purchase. Factors which are usually considered are quality and price as discussed in Section 1.5.

• Purchase and post purchase