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. [...]