Vitaminwater Battles Gatorade

Glaceau, makers of Vitaminwater, will be unveiling a new subline called Perform. The company says that while the drink is not a sports drink per se, it's clear that officials are aiming at the lightning bolt.

“Before now, active people have had one choice when it came to a sports beverage and not only does that option offer no nutritional value, it’s also based purely on salt,” said Glaceau's founder and CEO J. Darius Bikoff said, in a company release.  “Luckily for active people like us, perform provides a healthier, natural option without the extra sodium which most of us are getting way too much of in our diets.”

Company officials say the drink will have more total electrolytes than Gatorade in the form of calcium, magnesium and potassium, but the drink will not have the sodium that is found in Gatorade.

In a massive marketing blitz aimed to get the message out, they've signed 20 players on 20 Major League Baseball teams, including: Kerry Wood, Jim Thome, Francisco Rodriguez, David Wright, Kevin Millar, Jason Schmidt, Aubrey Huff, Mike Lowell, Austin Kearns, Jay Gibbons, Brandon Inge, Brian Lawrence, Richie Sexton, Jack Wilson, Travis Hafner, Torii Hunter, David Eckstein, Brad Lidge, Michael Young and Marcus Giles. The deal was conceived by Reed Bergman, CEO of Playbook Inc., a sports marketing firm.

“Baseball players across the country love Vitaminwater because it works for them both on and off the field,” Bikoff said. “Realistically, most people aren’t running daily triathlons so the needs of an extreme athlete aren’t relevant for the vast majority of us who just want to perform at our personal best every day, and that’s where vitaminwater comes in.” 

The drink, which will have 50 calories per serving and has a suggested retail price of $1.49, is schedule to hit shelves soon.

The company says it has experienced more than 200 percent compounded annual growth since it's inception in 1996 and more than 250 million bottles of the product are sold every year. It is not the first time Glaceau has taken a shot at Gatorade.

I found this on a label last year: "It has come to our attention that, at the conclusion of some sporting events, athletes pour large buckets of a 'sports drink' over their coach's head. Not to be outdone, we encourage our loyal consumers to do the same after a grueling match. O.K., sure. Dumping this over your chess team coach's head may sound strange, but trust us, nothing gets chess fans more pumped up." Gatorade has 21 total spokespeople. Two of them are baseball players -- Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

Comments

[Nightwing]

This might get me killed, but I believe that there are a few Vitaminwater flavors that are actually superior to Gatorade. Begin yelling.