Gatorade Vs. Milk
Gatorade Vs. Chocolate Milk is the forever recurring story. Newspapers love to keep running it again and again because it seems so contrary to popular opinion. The bottom line for me was that even if chocolate milk does have some recovery benefits over Gatorade, it doesn't matter because no one has effectively marketed a targeted milk just to athletes.
Well, not like it will ever it Gatorade a run for its money, but things have changed folks. Today, on the back of my copy of Sports Business Daily, I saw an add for a product I have previously never heard of.
It's called Muscle Milk. And they claim the Miami Hurricanes, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans, Stanford Cardinal, Colorado Buffaloes, ASU Sun Devils, FSU Seminoles, Hawaii Warriors, Cal Golden Bears and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as clients.
Muscle Milk is made by Cytosport and comes in some pretty unbelievable flavors, including: Chocolate Banana Crunch, Chocolate Mint Chip, Egg Nog and Strawberry Milk Shake.
It's an interesting play though it can never be compared to Gatorade. It has 18 grams of fat per serving and with two cups of milk, it's 640 calories. A drink gives you more than 60 percent of your daily protein.
Gatorade is not only for elite athletes. This drink clearly is. That's why it will forever be a niche market thing.
Muscle Milk has been around for a while in powdered form, the Ready to Drink (RTD)has been a more recent addition. They have also signed Laird Hamilton to an endorsement deal that runs in Outside/Men's Journal/etc...
Posted by: Jim A | December 12, 2006 at 06:56 PM
do not blog for espn anymore/
Posted by: Darren | December 12, 2006 at 07:46 PM
where can I find you nowadays?
Also meant to say earlier that Muscle Milk is used by a lot of weight lifters and gym rats to build/repair muscle
Posted by: Jim A | December 12, 2006 at 09:07 PM
Jim and Darren -- I moved to CNBC in July. You can watch me on the network or you can follow my sports biz blog on CNBC.com.
Posted by: darren | December 13, 2006 at 09:26 AM
I'd say the market for Gatorade is the masses not the elite athlete. Although they market it through elite athletes. Sorry for disagreeing, but I'll bet you sell more to the millions/billions of non elite athletes then to the couple hundred maybe thousand elite athletes in this world. It's a numbers game!
Todd Charske
Posted by: Todd Charske | December 14, 2006 at 09:40 AM
Good point abeing out this drink being for elite athletes (sorry I think I read it wrong to begin with) that many calories would make the average person fat.
Todd Charske
Posted by: Todd Charske | December 14, 2006 at 09:42 AM
why don't you talk about a drink that actually has more funcationality than gatorade or milk...vitaminwater. it's all natural and doesn't provide the high content of sodium that really isn't healthy for you. besides...they have better flavors and after taste than gatorade. i use to only drink gatorade until i was introduced to vitaminwater.
Posted by: Michael B | December 28, 2006 at 01:14 PM
Wow Michael B going out on a limb on the Gatorade website. Good point though no one really needs the sodium.
- todd Charske
Posted by: Todd Charske | January 02, 2007 at 04:36 PM
FYI I don't think either have much taste!
Posted by: Todd Charske | January 02, 2007 at 04:37 PM
pickle juice is da shizzy na adda meen green bean tak 1 fo da team charlie scheen
Posted by: terry bradschaw | January 04, 2007 at 11:18 AM
Muscle Milk and Gatorade are apples and oranges, you can't compare them. Cytomax and Gatorade however are a different story. Also made by CytoSport, Cytomax has a great following in endurance sports and contains 80% less sugar per serving than big G.
For repair of muscle tissue from exercise nothing beats a good combination of protein, carbs and healthy fats (Muscle Milk). This is not just for elite athletes guys.
Posted by: Protein Fiend | January 30, 2007 at 06:22 PM
Hey protein you can compare anything you want.
I could compare a knat to an atomic bomb if I wanted.
here there are similarities - both sports drinks that target athletes. Although I'd say Gatorade really sells to the masses.
- Todd Charske
Posted by: Todd Charske | January 31, 2007 at 09:18 AM
Sodium is a critical for hydration, that's why it's in Gatorade.
Posted by: jason | May 25, 2007 at 12:20 AM
@Todd - most people's diets are already heavy in sodium, potassium and other electrolytes. Gatorade has no advantage over milk in that category.
Posted by: Brian | February 12, 2008 at 02:14 PM