Darren Rovell's Gatorade blog

George Mason Can Win Free Gatorade

When two sports teams face off from different states in big sporting events, politicians frequently make bets. Well, Cinderella team George Mason is set to play Florida on Saturday and Virginia Rep. Tom Davis and Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns have made a friendly wager. If George Mason wins, Stearns will give a case of Gatorade to the Patriots. If Florida wins, Davis will give a collection of candies made by the Mars company, which is based in northern Virginia.

Gatorade Drinker: Bruce Springsteen

The Smoking Gun has done such an excellent job of securing the backstage contract requirements of so many acts, I thought I might as well use them to debut a new feature on this site. I'm going to go through the lists and every once in a while point out the famous people that drink Gatorade. So today it's Bruce Springsteen. Here's what Springsteen's act requires:

On Stage Left: Four bottles of  20 oz. Lemon-Lime Gatorade and Two Bottles of 20 oz. Citrus Cooler Gatorade (note this is from 2002 and Citrus Cooler is now defunct)

On Stage Right: Six bottles of 20 oz. Lemon-Lime Gatorade

Upstage Center: Five bottles of 64 oz. Lemon Lime Gatorade, 2 bottles of 64 oz. Orange Gatorade and two bottles of 64 oz. Citrus Cooler Gatorade.

Dressing Room: Three bottles of 1 quart Lemon-Lime, 6 bottles of 20 oz. Lemon-Lime (for Clarence Clemons)

Hospitality Room: Six bottles of 20 oz. Lemon-Lime Gatorade, Six bottles of 20 oz. Citrus Cooler Gatorade.

Slate Reviews POWERade Advertisement

Seth Stevenson at Slate has a very nice in-depth review of the POWERade spot, with the two Amish farmers, that resulted in the recent lawsuit, and the subsequent settlement that led to the spot's termination.

"The joy is entirely in the details," writes Stevenson. "The fact that one of them wears a yellow wrestling helmet while the other sports a royal-blue headband. The incongruously hard-edged rock on the soundtrack. The Pegasus-like wings attached to the horses, for no apparent reason. And, of course, the master stroke of having the Amish babe drop her bonnet—like a bobby-soxer in a '50s teensploitation flick. That all this happens in about seven seconds is both an impressive feat of concision and a wise tactic: The joke is head-slappingly simple ("Amish drag race" was the three-word pitch, no doubt), but it's over and done before it has a chance to wear thin."

Despite its creative angle, Stevenson ultimately gives the spot a B because he agrees with me and others that POWERade Option has to be compared to Propel, not Gatorade. I should note that the author says he got the details of the lawsuit from this site: "I'm taking this text from a Gatorade blog -- the very existence of which stunned me. Can we trust the work of a man who writes a blog devoted solely to Gatorade? In this case, I think we can.)"

Thanks for your vote of confidence, Seth. I'm not sure what you would have said if you realized I wrote a book on the brand as well. By the way, you can read his article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2138668/

New Gatorade With Your Breakfast?

In 1994, Gatorade introduced a drink called Sunbolt, which was positioned as a morning drink. It was advertised as a drink that would help the "energy crisis" that people had in the mornings. It was sold for six months and sported the Gatorade logo. It was high in carbs and high in caffeine and the 12 ounce drink had 210 calories. Sales weren't awful, but Gatorade execs felt that since it had none of the characteristics of Gatorade, it was a brand disconnect.

"When we took it off the market, there were a lot of consumer calls asking where it was," former Gatorade spokesperson P.J. Sinopoli said in my book. "It filled a niche for some people, but from an equity standpoint it was a dangerous direction to go in. It wasn't for the athlete, and it probably should have been managed under a separate name."

So why am I telling you all this? Because an intrepid loyal reader named Brad Klink, who alerted us that in December that Gatorade had filed a trademark for "Gatorade Peak" (no, we still don't know what they had in mind), has informed us that on March 8, Gatorade filed for a trademark for the words "Gatorade A.M." Again, we have no idea what they have in mind here. But they filed it under "1B" status, which Brad says means intent to use.

Stay tuned on Peak and Gatorade A.M.

Gatorade-POWERade War Hardly Over

The lawsuit might be settled, but don't think the tensions have been eased in the Gatorade-POWERade war. As evidence, check out the Wall Street Journal today. Here's Gloria Garrett, who has the amazing title of vice president of hydration for Coca-Cola: "Our advertising will maintain the central theme of the campaign, which is that POWERade Option has fewer calories than Gatorade. We have agreed to modify the commercials to be clearer that POWERade Option has both fewer calories and less carbohydrate energy than Gatorade."

So maybe POWERade can't claim that its Option drink gives you more energy that Gatorade, but I do believe Coca-Cola can get away with continuing to compare Option to Gatorade. I've said before I don't think they should be able to do this because it's a what economists call a spurrious correlation. That is, it's comparing two unlike things. But I don't believe that there is anything that can legally stop POWERade from trying to sell its Option drink to Gatorade drinkers.

I guess all the power to them. Gatorade doesn't try to sell Propel to Gatorade drinkers, but there's nothing to stop POWERade from trying to sell Option to the POWERade or Gatorade crowd. That's their choice. I believe that the people at Gatorade believe that a sports drink by definition has to have a certain amount of salt in it and Option doesn't have the required amount. But convincing the FDA and the FTC of that fact will be a chore.

Gatorade-POWERade Suit Settled

Just as I was mobilizing for a mud-slinging fest between Gatorade and POWERade, the lawsuit filed by Gatorade on Monday has just been settled. This is the news release that was issued by Gatorade just moments ago:

PepsiCo's Gatorade announced today that it has reached an out-of-court settlement with Coca-Cola resolving the lawsuit filed on Monday in Chicago's U.S. District Court. The move follows Coca-Cola's agreement to immdiately terminate the airing of one POWERade Option TV commercial and modify the language in the second ad to address the concerns expressed in the lawsuit relating to the carbohydrate calorie content and relative benefits of Gatorade and POWERade Option.

"Our primary concern is to ensure that consumers are accurately informed about the benefits of a functional sports drink, and we are satisfied with POWERade Option's decision," said Cindy Alston, vice president, equity development and communications for Gatorade.

POWERade Option has immediately stopped airing its "Drag Race" commercial, which was cited by Gatorade as containing inaccurate information. POWERade Option also agreed to modify its second commercial, called "Laces," with respect to the carbohydrate calorie content and relative energy benefits of the two products. In addition, POWERade Option will submit the revised "Laces" ad to an expedited review by the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division (NAD), which already recommended earlier this year that POWERade Option 'clearly and conspicuously' disclose the product does not provide the energy benefits that Gatorade delivers."

That's it. It's over. And although the entire episode last less than three days, I think it's safe to say that this is the biggest point of tension between the two sports drink makers since the NASCAR Victory Lane debacle a couple years ago.

Gatorade Vs. POWERade Option: Blow Out Coverage

Welcome to your site for all the latest regarding the Gatorade-POWERade lawsuit. I have finally seen the entire lawsuit and wanted to share pieces of it with you, especially for those who haven't seen these commercials and want to see what is at issue here.

"The message that Coca-Cola is sending to consumers in the Drag Race Commercial is obvious: POWERade Option not only has fewer calories than Gatorade, but also is superior to Gatorade as a sports drink. In this commercial, the cart with ten bales of hay, which represent POWERade Option, outperforms the cart with  the heavier load 50 bales of hay), which represents Gatorade. In other words, Coca-Cola is telling consumers that POWERade Option's fewer calories literally make you go faster. However, Coca-Cola cannot possibily substantiate this overall superiority claim. Indeed, the opposite is true: the calories present in Gatorade supply additional energy to working muscles and, as a result, increase endurance and performance. POWERade Option, which contains negligible calories, cannot refuel athletes in a similar manner."

"The Tennis Shoe Commercial opens with a shot of a women's leg, filmed calf down. The woman is wearing white athletic socks, pulled up to her knee and a pale blue tennis shoe with perfectly tied white laces. Next, the camera pans to the right to reveal the leg of the second woman who is also wearing white athletic socks, although hers are scrunched down to her ankle in disheveled fashion. The second woman also wears a tennis shoe. However, it is apparent that there is something very wrong with this woman's shoe, as she was unable to lace them properly. Indeed, the laces spill over the side of the shoe in a mangled mess...(One woman has 10 lace holes in her shoe, another has 50)....The commerical ends in the same way as the Drag Race commercial."

Here is another great allegation:

"Coca-Cola's deception is intentional. Coca-Cola's commercials are a cynical attempt to exploit a national obsession for "low carb" or "low calorie" products and to take advantage of a general consumer misconception about the benefits that calories provide in a sports drink."

Funny thing about the lawsuit is that the folks at Gatorade don't mention one thing about the fact that they actually have a product that they perceive as competing with Option -- Propel. There is not one single mention of the word "Propel" in the entire suit.

Gatorade Sues POWERade

You can't say we didn't see this coming. I knew the people at Gatorade were really mad when they saw the bottles of POWERade Option. I wrote about it in this space in September. Their problem was that the bottles and the advertising claim to have "80 PERCENT FEWER CALORIES THAN GATORADE." The issue of course is that they are clearly not comparing apples to apples. POWERade Option is Coca-Cola's answer to Propel, so you have to compare Option to Propel, not Option to Gatorade. If you compare Option to Propel, they are pretty much identical. And if you compare Option to POWERade, Option has 85 percent fewer calories that POWERADE! But Coca-Cola wanted to try to sell this as a sports drink, not a fitness water. So the question now becomes, can they legally sell at as a lower calorie sports drink instead of a fitness water? The federal lawsuit was filed on Monday. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the lawsuit contends Gatorade is the most-studied sports drink in the world, and is the "gold standard," while Powerade Option is an "an artificially sweetened and flavored water product." The paper said the lawsuit cites a commercial that I have never seen. In it two guys wearing Amish garb are carrying bales of hay with horses. One guy has 10 bales of hay, the other has 50 bales of hay. The winner is the one that has the lower load, making a reference to the 10 calories of POWERade Option to 50 calories of Gatorade. The Sun-Times reporter notes that the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau had previously decided that Coke could compare Option to Gatorade only if it discloses that the product does not provide the same energy replacement benefits. I have a bottle right here in my hotel room and it doesn't making that qualifier. It's funny that after the "80 percent fewer calories line" on the front of the bottle, it has an asterisk. It refers the reader to the back of the bottle and says this: "leading sports drink": 50 calories, POWERade Option, 10 calories. Funny how they don't even say Gatorade. Coca-Cola spokesman Dan Schafer told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the Powerade Option ads are truthful and that Gatorade has no research to prove its allegations. "Our advertising tells the truth, and we stand by it," Schafer said. The lawsuit seeks more than $75,000 in damages to Gatorade's business reputation and loss of sales and profits. I wonder how much this could really be hurting Gatorade's business. I would expect it to hurt Propel's business more. People who read this site know that I don't always side with Gatorade -- I am both a supporter and a critic -- but I think they have a good case here.

What do you guys? Weigh in, please.

Suspicious Gatorade?

A dog being used to sniff out trouble at The Palace of Auburn Hills went on full alert when KU's team bus arrived for Friday morning's shootaround, according to the Wichita Eagle. Wrote reporters Scott Paske and Rick Plumee wrote: "The black lab was intense about something in the luggage compartment under the bus. The target of the dog's interest turned out to be the Jayhawks' supply of Gatorade."

Gatorade In Endurance Formula Sell Mode

Gatorade has recently launched a separate Web site at www.itsonthecourse.com. The site is a well-executed idea. Since Gatorade is trying to sell this Endurance Formula to endurance athletes the easiest way to relate to them might be to tell them in advance what the drink will be at their endurance race. It sounds like a little thing, but I go nuts when I'm running a race and that have that awful Amino Vital as a drink. It can really take minutes off of your time. I'm not so much interested in comments on the site as I am on the Endurance Formula. You've seen it on supermarket shelves. Do you think it should be there? Also, if you go into your supermarket, please report back to me the ratio of regular gatorade, rain and Endurance Formula. I have contended that the Endurance Formula volume is way out of whack, but that might be the places that I walk into. Sound Off!