Coca-Cola Powerade strikes at Gatorade with new formula and packaging

Daniel Wiener-Bronner, CNN

Gatorade has long been a leader in sports drinks, colorful drinks designed to replenish electrolytes lost through perspiration. Now rival Powerade is hoping an updated recipe and new look will help push Gatorade off the top spot once and for all. It won’t be easy.

The new Powerade, which is currently replacing an older version boasting twice the electrolytes of its previous iteration, but also claimed to be a variation of the Gatorade Thirst Quencher. The new formula also includes vitamins C and B12, unlike the old recipe and competitor’s product.

Powerade’s updated packaging, along with the marketing some buyers will see online, highlights the differences between it and Gatorade.

But, like so many rivalries in the beverage industry, it essentially boils down to a battle between Coke and Pepsi.

Gatorade was developed at the University of Florida in the mid-1960s and acquired by PepsiCo in 2001. Coca-Cola launched Powerade in the 1980s to compete with Gatorade, but the Coke version never caught up. Meanwhile, Gatorade has become associated with winning, as successful coaches are traditionally showered with things after a game.

Over the years, as the category has grown, both Gatorade and Powerade have updated their designs and released new products. In 2021, Coca-Cola acquired BodyArmor, a relatively young but successful company with its own sports drinks. (Coca-Cola first bought a stake in BodyArmor in 2018.)

Now that division oversees the Powerade brand for Coke, and it’s been making changes—and highlighting comparisons to Gatorade.

“We will speak loudly about it. We’ll be proud of it,” Federico Meishondt, CEO of BodyArmor, told CNN.

Working Together

Back in 2020, Powerade positioned itself as a competitor to BodyArmor, even as Coca-Cola had already invested in the younger company. Working together, “Now we can use BodyArmor and Powerade as a one-two punch to take down Gatorade,” Meishondt told CNN.

“BodyArmor can help us revolutionize the sports drink category, especially in the US,” Coca-Cola CEO James Quincy said at a conference in June.

Today, Gatorade controls about 63% of the US sports drink market by volume, according to Euromonitor International. Collectively, the Coke brands hold approximately 29% of the market, with BodyArmor at 14.5% and Powerade at just 14.1%.

However, there is room for growth in this category as consumers look for alternatives to carbonated sodas and drinks that are perceived as “healthier” hydration.

Euromonitor predicts that the $13 billion US market will grow to nearly $17 billion in 2027. Maishondt believes that by this year Coca-Cola will become the leader in this category.

Powerade will need more than just a new look and formula. The brand will see more investment and more innovation in the coming years, said Meishondt, who declined to share details but said he could draw inspiration from global sports drink markets.

“Powerade is a sleeping giant,” he said. “It’s time to put a lot of energy into this.”

As for his new sister brand, he said that BodyArmor’s plan is to reach more customers with Coca-Cola’s massive scale. The two brands complement each other with BodyArmor appealing to people who are interested in health, wellness and fitness and are willing to spend more. Powerade is a more affordable sports and hydration focused brand.

Coca-Cola’s strategy is not only to increase the market share of sports drinks. The BodyArmor engagement is an example of how the company is approaching acquisitions, Quincy explained at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in April.

“BodyArmor is a great addition to a portfolio of brands because it meets almost every requirement we look at when we are trying to acquire a business,” he said. “We think it has some global scalability and more.”

The-CNN-Wire
& © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Company. discovery. All rights reserved.

Coca-Cola’s Powerade strikes at Gatorade with new formula and packaging first seen on KION546.

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News