Brand Audit: Gatorade (ePub)

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: The
Gatorade
Brand
is
a
dominating
force
in
the
sports
drink
industry.
Throughout
the
past
forty
years,
this
company
had
created
a
sustainable
competitive
advantage
by
developing
their
marketing
mix
which
include
product
strategy,
pricing
strategy,
promotional
mix,
and
distribution
strategy.
This
brand
audit
aims
to
analyze
Gatorade's
marketing
mix,
and
examine
how
it
varies
when
it
targets
on
multicultural
consumers.
Or
in
other
words,
how
its
marketing
strategy
varies
when
it
applies
to
an
international
market.
Executive
Summary
Gatorade
is
an
extremely
popular
sports
drink
brand
and
has
outstanding
brand
awareness
and
loyalty.
It
markets
its
unique
products
mainly
to
pre--adult
group
who
ages
from
13
to
24.
As
what
John
Sicher,
the
editor
of
Beverage
Digest,
said,
"the
pre--adult
years
are
the
cutting
edge
of
where
those
sports
drink
brands
are
competing".
This
is
a
tough
market
for
any
company
to
communicate
with,
since
the
youth
people
nowadays
prefer
to
avoid
traditional
media
outlets.
In
order
to
overcome
this
obstacle,
Gatorade
tends
to
be
not
only
a
sports
drink
distributor
but
also
a
"lifestyle
company",
promoting
an
active
and
self--improvement
lifestyle.
In
order
to
reach
its
target
market,
Gatorade
adopts
a
very
competitive
marketing
mix
to
get
its
products
sold.
First
of
all,
Gatorade
spends
lots
of
money
on
the
product
innovation
and
development.
Secondly,
its
low--pricing
strategy
makes
the
products
more
welcomed
by
the
consumers.
Thirdly,
by
using
its
parent
company-PepsiCo's
distribution
system,
Gatorade
can
get
its
products
sold
in
the
supermarkets,
liquor
stores,
department
stores,
and
so
on.
Besides,
Gatorade's
promotional
mix
which
includes
advertising,
public
relation
planning,
sales
promotion
and
sponsorship,
and
personal
selling,
also
contribute
much
to
its
dominating
80%
market
share
in
the
whole
industry. [...]