G, is this a branding strategy?
by Barry Silverstein
As a brand category leader, you should be inspirational, innovative, and ahead of the pack.
That’s why it’s disappointing to see a leader like Gatorade being a follower.
At one time, Gatorade was unique. In the 1960s, a football coach at the University of Florida asked some university physicians if they could help players who were wilting from heat and exhaustion. They created a balanced carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage and named it Gatorade. It pioneered a new category.
Now the sports drink category is one of the beverage industry’s shining stars, made all the more interesting by the addition of energy drinks. (Interested in energy drink names?)
Initially, Gatorade’s primary rival, Powerade, didn’t seem to pose much of a threat. But then came Glaceau’s vitaminwater brand. Vitaminwater has functional names keyed to certain vitamin ingredients, simple clean label design, and a sense of humor. Entertainers like Carrie Underwood and 50 Cent, and sports stars like Carl Edwards (car racing), LeBron James (basketball), and David Wright (baseball) endorse the product. It makes Gatorade look, well, stodgy.
Gatorade reacted, recently re-branding itself as “G,” with revised packaging and a new “G” ad campaign. The brand also started “Mission G,” an elaborate online network.
Things got a little fuzzier when Gatorade started naming its new products. The original Gatorade formula is now called G, but there is also a Michael Jordan “limited edition” G in three flavors and “G2,” which is 1/2 the calories of G. (Shouldn’t “G2” be twice the calories of G?)
The other five products in the family are even more perplexing. They carry the full Gatorade name, along with ad slogans on the labels. “Gatorade A.M.,” for example, screams SHINE ON, with a type treatment that makes it read “SH INE ON.” It leaves the consumer with more questions than answers: Should I only drink this in the morning? Will it make me “shine on” all day? Would I be better off drinking, say, the stuff in the bottles that read “BRING IT” or “BE TOUGH”?
And then there’s the unfortunately named TIGER FOCUS, with you-know-who’s eyes staring at you from the bottle label. This product has just been dropped from Gatorade’s line up in a move the company said was planned before the Tiger Woods scandal.
Vitaminwater, on the other hand, offers fifteen different drinks, and the consumer can figure out what every one of them does. Each label is color-coded to match the drink, each name is meaningful (such as Balance, Endurance, B-relaxed), and each product has a single flavor and distinctive ingredients. Yet they all look and feel like they are very much part of one big happy family. Maybe that’s one of the reasons vitaminwater has had “triple digit growth for five straight years,” according to the product line’s manufacturer.
Gatorade, meanwhile, isn’t finished reinventing itself. According to Advertising Age, the brand will introduce a “G Series” of product categories with new names and new packaging in 2010. Gee, let’s hope this one-time category leader can even the score.
