Brand Audit: Gatorade

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: A, University of Florida, language: English, abstract: TheGatoradeBrandisadominatingforceinthesportsdrinkindustry.Throughoutthepastfortyyears,thiscompanyhadcreatedasustainablecompetitiveadvantagebydevelopingtheirmarketingmixwhichincludeproductstrategy,pricingstrategy,promotionalmix,anddistributionstrategy.ThisbrandauditaimstoanalyzeGatorade'smarketingmix,andexaminehowitvarieswhenittargetsonmulticulturalconsumers.Orinotherwords,howitsmarketingstrategyvarieswhenitappliestoaninternationalmarket.ExecutiveSummaryGatoradeisanextremelypopularsportsdrinkbrandandhasoutstandingbrandawarenessandloyalty.Itmarketsitsuniqueproductsmainlytopre-¿adultgroupwhoagesfrom13to24.AswhatJohnSicher,theeditorofBeverageDigest,said,"thepre-¿adultyearsarethecuttingedgeofwherethosesportsdrinkbrandsarecompeting".Thisisatoughmarketforanycompanytocommunicatewith,sincetheyouthpeoplenowadaysprefertoavoidtraditionalmediaoutlets.Inordertoovercomethisobstacle,Gatoradetendstobenotonlyasportsdrinkdistributorbutalsoa"lifestylecompany",promotinganactiveandself-¿improvementlifestyle.Inordertoreachitstargetmarket,Gatoradeadoptsaverycompetitivemarketingmixtogetitsproductssold.Firstofall,Gatoradespendslotsofmoneyontheproductinnovationanddevelopment.Secondly,itslow-¿pricingstrategymakestheproductsmorewelcomedbytheconsumers.Thirdly,byusingitsparentcompany-PepsiCo'sdistributionsystem,Gatoradecangetitsproductssoldinthesupermarkets,liquorstores,departmentstores,andsoon.Besides,Gatorade'spromotionalmixwhichincludesadvertising,publicrelationplanning,salespromotionandsponsorship,andpersonalselling,alsocontributemuchtoitsdominating80%marketshareinthewholeindustry. [...]