Brand Audit of Gatorade

1. Shelbie Wright
Brand Audit
MKT 3320.501

2. • Company…………………………………………………..1-3
• History……………………………………………………….4
• Key Personnel…………………………………………….5
• Organizational Structure…………………………...6
• Subsidiaries………………………………………….…….7
• Products……………………………………………….......8
• Brand Analysis…………………………………………….9
• Consumer Profile………………………………………..10
• Advertising/Marketing………………………………..11
• Media………………………………………………………….12
• Promotions………………………………………………….13
• Internet and New Media……………………………..14
• Brand Value…………………………………………………15
• Brand Exploratory……………………………………….16-19
• Recommendations………………………………………20
• Sources………………………………………………………..21-22

3. • How Gatorade Began
It all began in the summer of 1965
at The University of Florida, the assistant
football coach; Dwayne Douglas noticed
major weight loss amongst a majority of the
football team. Douglas took his questioning
to 37 year old Robert Cade, who at the time
directed the University Of Florida College Of
Medicine’s renal and electrolyte division.
Cade joined together with a group
of researchers, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. H. James
Free and Dr. Alejandro de Quesada and
together they discovered two major
components that were causing the players
to have such a weight loss were electrolytes
and fluids. When the players would sweat,
they weren’t replenishing their bodies with
the electrolytes and fluids they were losing;
instead, their bodies were using
carbohydrates for the energy which weren’t
being replenished, causing weight loss. 1

4. The research began with a study of heat on the human body and
they began to realize that the heat was taking away from the players’
endurance, energy and strength. When the players would sweat out sodium
and potassium, it would put their bodies at a chemical imbalance. The players
would drink plenty of water but it would cause many of the players to have an
upset stomach and it didn’t have the chemicals to balance the body and keep
it hydrated. The imbalance of the chemicals caused over two dozen of the
freshmen players to be hospitalized in the summer of 1965. The researchers
than began a study on ten of the players throughout the season and found
results of very low blood sugar, as well as very low blood volume.
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5. Now that the researchers knew
what the chemical imbalance in the body
was associated with, they began to work on a
substance that the players could consume
and keep the body hydrated and chemically
in balance. They began their first batch of
Gatorade with salt to replenish the body with
what was lost through sweat and sugar for
the low blood sugar they noticed many of the
players had, but not too much sugar to cause
an upset stomach. The researcher’s first
batch tasted so terrible, they couldn’t even
swallow the substance. When Cade’s wife
suggested they add lemon juice, little did she
know, that substance would soon be known
as the world famous Gatorade.
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6. In 1967, the only flavor of
Gatorade was lemon-lime; this flavor was
the only flavor up until the year of 1983
when Fruit punch made its debut. In 1967,
Dr. Cade signed an agreement for Stokely-
Van Camp to produce the already patented
drink. Stokely was incorporated in 1936
and is located in Chicago, Illinois.
Since 1967, Gatorade has grown
into a 13 billion dollar company, bringing in
3.3 billion a year. It is currently the official
drink of the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, and
professional volleyball. Gatorade also has
many partnerships with professional
athletes. In August of 1991, Gatorade
signed an 18 million dollar contract with
Michael Jordan, who is a professional
basketball player in the NBA. This contract
would make Jordan the new face of
Gatorade for the next 10 years.
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7. Indra K. Nooyi Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Jon Banner Executive Vice President
Oswald Barckhahn President
Umran Beba Senior Vice President, Chief and HR
Rich Beck Senior Vice President, Supply Chain
Albert P. Carey Chief Executive Officer
Indra K. Nooyi became the CFO in
2001 of Pepsi Co., who is the distributor and
owner of Gatorade. Indra began working for
Pepsi Co. in 1994 working in the office for Pepsi
Co. She has done a great job for the company
and continues to do an astounding job with Pepsi
Co. Many women strive to be in the position that
Indra has put herself in and continues to prove
that women can take full control of a billion
dollar company and keep numbers rising. 5

8. As you can see in this
organizational structure,
Gatorade is owned and
operated by PepsiCo. and
outsourced from Quaker
distribution center. In 2012,
Quaker was approved for a 1.2
million square foot distribution
center in Lancaster, Texas.
Within the next decade,
Quaker plans to spend 35
million on property and
improvements.
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9. Gatorade is a subsidiary of Pepsi Co. Inc., Gatorade has a variety of different products
ranging from sports drinks to energy bars. The sports drink has grown into a company
that distributes energy bars, energy chews, protein bars and drinks, as well as low
calorie sports drinks to attract a variety of athletes in the sports world. Gatorade offers
their products not only in stores but online as well, making it more convenient to get
the products to its consumers.
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10. • Energy Chews
• Sports Fuel Drink
• Thirst Quencher
• Low Calorie- G2
• Thirst Quencher Powder
• Low Calorie G2 Powder
• Protein Shake
• Post Game Recovery Drink
• Whey Protein Bar
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11. • Gatorade currently controls about 74% of market share
• The brand value is worth 4.8 billion
• Sales hold at about 3.3 billion
• In 2010, Gatorade noticed a drop in sales and released the new G Series of
Gatorade.
• In 2011, they surpassed the billion gallon threshold.
• Gatorades main competition is bottled water, energy drinks, sports drinks, flavored
water, and low calorie sports drinks. (PowerAde, Monster, MiO, Vitamin Water)
• All of Gatorades competition attempts to grasp the upper hand in todays market.
• Overall, Gatorade has continued to keep control of the market and will continue to
do so with the strong marketing their company has withheld.
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12. • Gatorades main consumer is athletes both professional and unprofessional and
sports teams.
• Gatorade has kept a great connection with its target market.
• They tend to keep a great connection with their consumers.
• In 2010, when they released the G Series, the lower calorie and sugar content
created a new consumer for Gatorade which helped to broaden their target
market.
• Using role model athletes has also helped to keep a great connection with
consumers.
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13. The main advertisement for Gatorade is the
use of professional athletes in their ads and
commercials. Not only does Gatorade choose
to use professional athletes, but they choose
athletes who we all know and love. During
the decennial of Gatorade, they used the
well known and loved Michael Jordan as
their first endorser. Using Jordan as the face
of Gatorade got instant credibility in
countries that had no idea what a sports
drink was. The Gatorade ad agency, Bayer
Bess Vanderwarker was in the process of
creating a one of a kind ad. He eventually
created the “Be Like Mike” ad, which is still to
this day known as the most memorable and
effective campaign in the history of sports
marketing. Since then, Gatorade has
endorsed hundreds of professional athletes
from all over the world. They have endorsers
in the NBA, NFL, NHL,MLB, and even Nascar.
With the widespread professional athletes, it
has gained Gatorade consumers from all over
the world and in many different sport fields.
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14. In 2010, Gatorade started a social media “Mission Control” in their Chicago offices.
During this event, Gatorade had a team of employees monitor social media and
decide on what consumers want and what they want to see developed within the
future from Gatorade. The main goal of the mission was to engage with consumers
and inform them of the brand’s strategy. The Team of Gatorade had more than 2000
one-on-one conversations with consumers, they also gained 1.2 million likes on
Facebook during the mission. The discussion of sports performance also jumped from
60% from 35% since the beginning of the mission, Gatorade was very excited about
this stat because they were in the process of recasting themselves as a sports-
performance innovator, rather than just a sports drink.
Since such success with the mission in 2010, Gatorade has began to pay more
attention to social media and has set up “listening command centers”, to capture and
monitor social media conversations. With doing so, they have created a company that
reacts instantly to viral buzz, and makes consumers feel involved and as a result is
bringing in bigger profits. They continue to allow fans to interact live through twitter
and Facebook with sports stars answering questions from Gatorade followers.
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15. In order for Gatorade to achieve their sales target, they
have to promote the product in many different
perspectives. Even though Gatorade is specifically
portrayed as a drink for athletes, they also need to
focus on the other consumers who aren’t athletes but
enjoy drinking Gatorade. In 2007, Gatorade released
the G Series, this series of Gatorade has less sugar and
calories than regular Gatorade. Even though this was a
new product being launched, it was a promotion for
Gatorade to attract a new profile of consumers. The G
Series attracted consumers who are health conscious
and people who can’t have high sugar and calories in
their drinks, but still want to stay hydrated. With more
and more people becoming health conscious, they
released the G Series at the perfect time, which also
gave the product such a great success.
In the summer of 2014, Gatorade released new flavors
for the season, including Fierce Green Apple, Blue
Cherry, Strawberry Lemonade, Lime Cucumber,
Raspberry Melon and Grape. With the new release of
these flavors during the summer time, it attracted
many people who were looking for rehydration.
Gatorade’s release time on the product helped to make
great success for the new flavors. 13

16. Gatorades most recent and highly talked about
issue has been with their orange flavored
Gatorade. Their was a controversial ingredient
put in this flavor and Gatorade was receiving
many complaints from consumers. As I stated
in the previous Media slide, Gatorade takes
each and every complaint from consumers and
is very serious about keeping consumers
satisfied. The ingredient that was causing such
commotion was BVO, which is patented as a
flame retardant. The Environmental Health
News reported on the ingredient and a
Mississippi teenager began a petition against
Gatorade to remove the BVO from the Orange
Gatorade. With such an enormous amount of
complaints coming from consumers, Gatorade
made the decision to remove the BVO from
Gatorade.
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17. Gatorade has continued to be the
number one brand of sports drinks
in the world. With the continued
support from professional athletes,
who love Gatorade and the support
Gatorade has for its consumers, I
believe Gatorades brand value will
continue to increase. Sports have
become more and more popular
across the world, as well as people
concerned with being healthy and
fit. I believe that Gatorade will only
continue to grow and have support
for all of their consumers, which
will only allow them to continue
with the success they have already
achieved.
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18. • Qualitative
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19. • Qualitative Continued
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20. • Quantitative
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21. • Quantitative Continued
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22. Overall, Gatorade is a very successful company, during all of my research I have
learned that Gatorade is a very loved company. Consumers of Gatorade love the
product and can’t wait to see what they have in store for the future.
The placement that Gatorade has taken has been very successful, they are expanding
internationally and will continue to expand. One recommendation for expansion is to
make sure consumers like the product flavors, when expanding outside of the United
States, some foreign countries prefer certain flavors that aren’t as sweet. I would say
the cucumber lime and raspberry melon would do great in foreign countries.
The price of Gatorade is very competitive with other sports drinks. Many gas stations
and grocery stores have Gatorade on sell for 1 dollar a bottle and sometimes even
cheaper than that. With Gatorade having many more flavors than other sports drinks, I
think this gives them even more of an advantage over their competition.
As for the products of Gatorade, I think they made a great choice by releasing the G
Series. With so many athletes and consumers becoming more fit and healthy,
releasing this product with less sugar and calories was definitely a great idea. Now I do
recommend Gatorade to consider making lower calorie protein shakes, I think this
would allow their number of consumers to increase.
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23. • "American Football Task Force SSEs." Gatorade Sports Science Institute. 2014. Web. 10 Apr.
2015.
• Astramskas, David. "30 Years Ago Today, the Chicago Bulls Signed Michael Jordan | MJ’s First
Deals." Ballislifecom. 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 7 May 2015.
• Drummond, Katie. "How Gatorade Turned Water into 'the Enemy of Performance'" The
Verge. 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
• Friedersdorf, Conor. "Why PepsiCo CEO Indra K. Nooyi Can't Have It All." The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 1 July 2014. Web. 1 May 2015.
• "Gatorade." •. Web. 1 May 2015.
• "Gatorade Teams, Partners and Athletes." Teams, Partners and Athletes. Web. 7 May 2015.
• "Gatorade Timeline | Twoop." Twoop. 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 2 May 2015.
• "Gatorade to Remove Controversial Ingredient." NY Daily News. 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 7 May
2015.
• Kurlyandchik, Mark. "How The Invention Of Gatorade Generated Hundreds Of Millions In
Royalties For The University of Florida." Celebrity Net worth. 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 2 May 2015.
• Maloy, Brendan. "Gatorade Remasters Iconic Michael Jordan." SI.com. 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 1
May 2015.
• Martin, Douglas. "J. Robert Cade, the Inventor of Gatorade, Dies at 80." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 27 Nov. 2007. Web. 7 May 2015.
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24. • Nole, Frank. "Why Did The FSU Seminoles Let UF Take Credit For The Gatorade Formula?"
Tomahawk Nation. 26 May 2010. Web. 1 May 2015.
• Nudd, Tim. "Gatorade Digitally Remastered 'Be Like Mike' After 23 Years, and Damn Does It
Hold Up." AdWeek. 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.
• Rovell, Darren. "Darren Rovell's Gatorade Blog." 'Darren Rovell's Gatorade Blog' 1 Apr. 2007.
Web. 1 May 2015.
• "The Gatorade Company, Inc.: CEO and Executives." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Web. 1 May
2015.
• "The Gatorade Company, Inc.: Private Company Information." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg.
Web. 1 May 2015.
• "The History of Gatorade." W T Hanes Physical Education in Irving Texas The History Of
Gatorade Comments. 4 Sept. 2006. Web. 1 May 2015.
• "The World's Most Powerful Brands." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 1 May
2015.
• Utermohlen, Karl. "The University of Florida Makes Millions From Gatorade | InvestorPlace."
Investor Place RSS. 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 1 May 2015.
• "VML | Gatorade - Leading Digital and Social Integration for Global Markets ." VML. 2015.
Web. 2 May 2015.
• Vancil, Mark. "NBA.com: Michael Jordan Career Retrospective." NBA.com: Michael Jordan
Career Retrospective. Web. 1 May 2015.
• "Who We Are." Our Leadership. Web. 7 May 2015.
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