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Darren Rovell: First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat into a Cultural Phenomenon
Out in bookstores and online NOW. Published by AMACOM in August 2005.
Darren Rovell & David M. Carter: On the Ball: What You Can Learn About Business From America's Sports Leaders
Published in February 2003 by Financial Times Prentice Hall.
« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »
In continuing on my quest to try every Gatorade flavor before my book comes out in September, I tried Watermelon Ice today. For some reason, I like my sports drinks to have color, so I haven't tried any of the clear ice flavors. Well, I really enjoyed Watermelon Ice. So crisp and refreshing, I'll definitely have it again. Flavor Rating: 9 out of 10.
A company based in Park City, Utah, announced today that they are launching a vitamin-fortified isotonic sports drink called TUFF GUYZ. According to a release from the company, the drink was dreamed up by a guy named Brad Weidman, who is involved with Tough Guy Films, an entertainment company that has been involved in 3D, comic book and anime sports characters.
"I always felt that sports drinks were a functional drink but they didn't taste all that good" Weidman said, in the release. "We worked very hard to create the winning combination of great taste, a blast of vitamins, and no salty aftertaste."
The release says that the sports drink market is untapped in the youth area. While I assure you this isn't the case, I do think I know what audience this group is aiming for -- snowboarders and skateboarders, which Gatorade has not done much with.
"Gatorade has a ton of utility at alternative sports, but it's not part of our sponsorship strategy," Gatorade's czar of sports marketing Tom Fox told us. "The reason is two-fold. There are not great opportunities for the athletes to be seen drinking (no true 'sidelines') and Mountain Dew and others got there first and the environment is extremely cluttered with a wide variety of beverages."
"We know through research that these athlets are drinking a ton of Gatorade and understand the benefits it offers during long days of climbing the mountain to get to the half-pipe or after spending hours on a hot BMX track in full gear. It's just not the best sponsorship showcase for us."
The labels on the new Tuff Guyz sports drinks include action figures. The drink includes B and E vitamins and will be available in five flavors including Orange Mango Fire, Citrus Berry Blue, Lemon Lime Green Fire, Grape Berry Deep Purple Fire and Fruit Punch Red Fire.
"By offering a graphic anime alternative to what's out there the guys at TUFF GUYZ could have the next Gatorade on their hands," said Richard H. Davis, President of Beverage Marketing USA, Inc., in the release.
As we learned as early as 1970 with Coca-Cola and Olympade, bottle graphics have little to do with great market share unless what is in the bottle is great. And just like there is no next Michael Jordan, there is no next Gatorade.
Is there a single supermarket/convenience store that doesn't have a Gatorade promotion going on? I have no idea how this stuff works -- obviously it's individual co-op agreements between Gatorade and the vendors -- but everywhere I am, there's some kind of deal on the stuff. I'm currently in San Marcos, Texas, on assignment, and I walked into a Walgreens. I was only going to get two bottles of Gatorade, but then I noticed that if I bought 2-20 oz. six packs for $11.98, I could get this unbelieveable cooler bag that was sitting on top of the shelf. It said the retail value of the case was $3.99, but I think it's even higher. Then I walked into a local supermarket chain and sure enough, there it was: Buy two 64 oz. Gatorades and get one free. It's funny how in all the stores that have Gatorade promotions how little of a presence POWERade has. It makes you wonder whether the promotion dollar essentially kicks their competitor out of the store.
Earlier this year, Gatorade was introduced in India in gyms and at health clubs. Apparently sales have been successful enough that Pepsi will now go from importing the Gatorade through Pepsi's Tropicana juice brand to bottling it at Pepsi's plant in India. Despite the internal production of the drink, there are currently no plans to mass market Gatorade in the country.
This morning I began my quest to make sure I drink a bottle of every Gatorade flavor available in the United States. I start with Riptide Rush because I've never had it before. Put it this way, I'm never having it again. I dumped the contents of the 20-ounce bottle into a 1 gallon Poland Springs water jug, filled it with water, and it's still too strong. I don't like flavors that don't taste at all like the original Gatorade flavors and this is just one of them. Flavor Rating: 2 out of 10.
I was working out at a gym today and had the chance to see men's billiards trick shot programming on ESPN2. Sure enough, there was trick shot champion Mike Massey chugging his lemon-lime Gatorade between shots. Not sure dehydration is a factor in trick billiards, but you never know the way that air conditioning is pumping.
While researching for my book, I purchased many items on eBay. There is a lot of great stuff on there if you know what you are doing. You know what I'm going to say next. If you don't know what you are doing, there is a lot of crazy stuff out there that just isn't worth spending any money on.
With that in mind...a seller has recently posted a listing for a rare misprint of a Gatorade bottle (link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=369&item=6187104457&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW). The listing reads: "I have a Gatorade bottle which was misprinted at the factory. They left off the word 'Gatorade' across the front. This could become very valuable to collectors of rare items, just as coins and stamps which were minted improperly have grown in value." Bidding starts at $10 or you could buy it now for $100!
Sounds like a steal, right? Except for the fact that this isn't a misprint. It's merely Gatorade's new mosaic bottles, which don't have the Gatorade name on it. Never has something so common been so rare.
BusinessPundit.com is one of the 60 blogs I check up on every morning. So I was happy when Rob at the site decided to conduct an interview with me about the book. To read about alcoholic Gatorade and Steve Spurrier's Coca-Cola habit, check out the interview conducted last week: http://www.businesspundit.com/archives/002074.html
A
s detailed extensively in my upcoming book, Elvis was a huge fan of Gatorade. It recently came to my attention that an Elvis compilation that was produced in 1992 is called "Fried Bananas, Ice Cream and Gatorade." I assume the sports drink bears mention in the title because the collection includes monologues and Elvis was known to preach about Gatorade, especially towards the end of his career. (He was also a fan of fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches). When doing research for the book, I spoke to an Elvis historian named Crister Berge from Sweden and he told me that many bootleg tapes from live performances have Elvis talking about Gatorade for long in-between song stretches. Stokely Van-Camp, the company that owned Gatorade in the early 70s, didn't ever pick up on the implied endorsement of the King.
According to Nielsen Product Placement, Gatorade is among the brands with the most product placement on television shows in the first quarter of 2005. Here is the top 10 list with total number of impressions and shows that featured the brand.
1. Coca Cola (1,931) -- American Idol, Amazing Race, King of Queens
2. Everlast (1,395) -- The Contender, The Road To Stardom
3. adidas (476) -- The Road To Stardom, Summerland, Eve
4. Sports Illustrated (475) -- Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Model Search, King of the Hill
5. Nike (466) -- Amazing Race, King of Queens, Will & Grace
6. Gatorade (441) -- The Contender, Two & A Half Men
7. The Home Depot (324) -- The Contender, Apprentice, Survivor
8. Toyota (319) -- The Contender, Amazing Race, Law & Order
"The Contender offered us a terrific opportunity because it was authentic athletes and an authentic occasion," Gatorade spokeswoman Heather Mitchell told Bloomberg News.
Heather was a tremendous help when I was writing "First In Thirst." Without her coordinating efforts, I would never have gotten things done on time. One more note on the product placement front, I washed down my car at the Bristol mobil station with a squeegee with a Gatorade advertisement on the handle. Given how many gas stations have convenience stores, I think that is a good, cheap ad buy.
