Case Analysis Ultimate_Writer

Jaden Barr

Kusek, K. (2015, January 03). Gatorade Turns 50. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.

forbes.com/sites/kathleenkusek/2015/01/03/gatorade-turns-50/#4e26a9802fef

Gatorade began a new advertising campaign to celebrate the new year and its 50th anniversary. The commercial was created by TBWA, an advertising agency that chose to begin the advertisement at the University of Florida . The University of Florida’s mascot, the “gator,” provided inspiration for the brand name when it was first introduced on the campus of UF. It was introduced in 1965, and the advertisement used a historic coach counting push ups. While counting, 50 memorable sports scenes are shown with the tagline being “50 Years of Fueling the Champion Within.” These iconic moments range from a variety of sports and covers several popular athletes (para. 1). An advertising strategist mentions, “Gatorade has always been an authentic part of sports culture and has earned their right to celebrate it” (para. 2).

“PepsiCo dominates the $7 billion sports drink segment with 74.2% of sales, distantly followed by Coca-Cola’s Powerade at 22.5% according to the Mintel’s January 2014 Study of the Sports Drink Category” (para. 3).

Gatorade has won various awards, being recognized by Forbes in their top 100 list of “World’s Most Valuable Brands” list in 2012. This is due to their memorable advertising with athletes such as Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter, both athletes at the end of their careers. Gatorade spends most of its advertising budget on football and basketball to reach its target audience and so the commercial is focused more on these sports. Dumping coolers of Gatorade on coaches at the end of big games and the “Flu game” by Michael Jordan in the playoffs are two examples of scenes shown in the clip. Other popular athletes and coaches such as Bill Parcells, Mia Hamm, Serena Williams, and Pat Summitt are featured before coming full circle back to the Florida Gators training today. “For superfans, there's an interactive version of the ad on Gatorade’s YouTube page that allows fans to more closely examine each event featured” (para. 4).

Some popular female athletes were not mentioned, but this was noted due to the female target market not accounting for as much revenue as men. Muhammad Ali, a popular figure that had been featured in several commercials in the past, was omitted as well (para. 5).

This article can be used in various components of the paper including the SWOT analysis, business strategy, and promotions strategy. This article indicates strengths of Gatorade in the sports drink industry and its 50 years of success advertising campaign supports the claims. Its business strategy is giving it a competitive advantage in the industry by capitalizing on key sports moments in which Gatorade played an active role. This strategy is also proving Gatorade to be the market leader in the industry. Through its promotion strategy, an advertising campaign is being used to capitalize on the current market and the media outlets utilized are numerous.