Gatorade vs. Powerade

Social Media Marketing Plan

Created by: Anna E. Steele

October 29, 2015

The Gatorade Company

555 West Monroe St. Floor 1 Chicago, IL 60661 Phone: 1-800-884-2867

Powerade The Coca-Cola Company P.O. Box 17734 Atlanta, GA 30301 Phone: 1-800-438-2653

Table of Contents History_________________________________________ 1

Audience________________________________________ 4

Goals & Strategies________________________________ 5

Campaign________________________________________6

Measurement_____________________________________ 8

Platforms_______________________________________ 10

Facebook______________________________________11

Twitter_______________________________________ 13

Instagram_____________________________________ 15

YouTube______________________________________17

Audience Development____________________________ 19

Winner_________________________________________20

Gatorade: History Gatorade was created in the summer of 1965. A University of Florida assistant football coach wanted to understand why his players were negatively affected by extreme heat. Researchers found that his players were losing more fluids and electrolytes than they were consuming. To combat this issue, a scientifically formulated carbohydrate-electrolyte balanced beverage was created, a beverage now known as “Gatorade”.

Gatorade was originally produced and marketed by Stokely-Van Camp, but after a series of purchases, it was bought by PepsiCo in 2000.

According to their 2010 Annual Report, Gatorade is PepsiCo’s fourth largest brand in worldwide annual retail sales. It is distributed in over 80 countries and accounts for 75 percent market share in the sports drink category, within the United States.

Today, Gatorade can be found on the sidelines of more than 70 Division 1 colleges as the official sports drink of their men’s and women’s intercollegiate sports.  

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Powerade: History

Powerade first entered the market in 1988. Manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company, Powerade was created to compete with PepsiCo’s Gatorade in sports drink sales. Within the same year, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics, alongside Aquarius, another sports drink made by Coca-Cola.

Powerade has grown to account for 21.7 percent market share in the sports drink category within the United States, and is distributed in approximately 20 countries around the world.

Today, Powerade is the official sports drink of the PGA Tour, NASCAR, the U.S. Olympic Team (excluding U.S.A. Basketball and U.S. Soccer), The Football League, FIFA, and many more.

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Gatorade Powerade Created in 1965 Created in 1988 PepsiCo product Coca-Cola Company product Purpose was to increase University of Florida football players’ performance

Purpose was to compete with Gatorade’s market share

75% market share in sports drink category in U.S.

21.7% market share in sports drink category in U.S.

History

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Gatorade and Powerade share two target audiences: athletes and individuals between the ages of 13 and 25.

These people are everyday athletes; they either enjoy playing or watching sports. They lead healthy, active lifestyles, so replenishing lost electrolytes and carbohydrates is important to them.

Their second target audience is individuals between the ages of 13 and 25. These are people aspiring to be greater than average. They also lead very social and active lives.

Audience

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Gatorade’s main goal is to dominate the market of 13-25 year olds who lead active lifestyles. Through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Gatorade is able to connect with and appeal to people within its target audience.

Powerade’s main goal is to be the affordable sports drink for the everyday athlete. It reaches their target audience by positioning it’s product in easily accessible and affordable stores. Similar to Gatorade, Powerade connects with it’s consumers through various social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Goals & Strategies

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Campaign: Gatorade

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Gatorade’s current campaign is called #WinFromWithin. As you can see from the following Facebook posts, it features professional athletes refueling with Gatorade. The premise is that practice, training, machines and apparel are not enough to reach your end goals – you need power from within. The campaign then encourages you to replenish your carbohydrates and electrolytes by consuming Gatorade.

Campaign: Powerade

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Powerade’s current campaign is called Just A Kid. As you can see from the following Facebook posts, it primarily features videos of professional athletes, who were once “just kids”. The campaign emphasizes the humanity of professional athletes. It recognizes the potential in all young athletes by supporting the belief that anyone can achieve their dreams, no matter where they start in life or the obstacles they face.

Measurement: Gatorade

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Using Social Mention, the following picture represents an average of Gatorade’s data over one week.

Strength is the likelihood that the brand is being discussed in social media.

Sentiment is the ratio of comments that are positive to negative.

Passion is a measure of the likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will do so repeatedly.

Reach is a measure of the range of influence.

For Gatorade, the most interesting aspects of this data are sentiment and passion.

There is a high sentiment ratio, which means that people are talking about the brand positively, but passion indicates that they are not likely to mention Gatorade repeatedly. In order to increase sentiment and passion, customer loyalty programs and social media contests should be created. The contest will immediately increase traffic, sentiment, and passion, and the customer loyalty programs will increase long term brand loyalty.

Measurement: Powerade

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Using Social Mention, the following picture represents an average of Powerade’s data over one week.

Similar to Gatorade, Powerade is weakest in sentiment and passion.

Creating incentives to be loyal to a brand is the best way to increase sentiment and passion. As previously stated, customer loyalty programs and social media contests are two options.

Marketing your brand to fit your customers’ needs and wants is another way to increase sentiment and passion. Customers need to be able to relate to your brand.

The current Just A Kid campaign is relatable, but the thumbnails and video content are not entertaining their target market. Individuals between 13 and 25 are more interested in watching their favorite athletes performing tricks as opposed to watching them speak, like the current campaign videos. By layering their testimonials over videos of them playing, Powerade could significantly increase interest and response.

Gatorade and Powerade use the following social media channels to distribute their content and interact with their consumers.

Platforms

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Facebook

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Gatorade - Used to promote campaigns - Colorful eye-catching pictures and videos - Products are present in almost all posts - Professional athlete endorsers - Extremely interactive with consumers via comments

Powerade - Features videos from current Just A Kid campaign - Dark and black and white sports-related pictures - Posts are not generating much interaction - Incomplete profile due to lack of contact information - Does not contain pictures of Powerade or any Powerade The number of likes on a Facebook page does not indicate success alone. The page needs to be updated regularly, it needs interactive and entertained fans, and the company needs to be responsive to its consumers. Due to the previously stated criteria, Gatorade has the more successful Facebook page.

paraphernalia

Gatorade Powerade Likes 7,227,446 4,591,271

In order to improve the Facebook page, Powerade needs to be more interactive and the products need to be advertised. Below are examples of Powerade’s Facebook posts. Using bright, product-based pictures and videos will attract attention and should generate fan interaction.

Recommendations

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Because the campaign videos are generating a significant amount of interactions, it is apparent that fans are being exposed to posts, but are not interested. The main difference between the campaign video shown above and the football pictures to the right is the content. Fans can relate to David Ortiz’s story on a deeper level than the other two posts.

Gatorade - Similar to Facebook posts; uses bright colors - Very interactive and current with tweets - Retweets its sponsored teams, ESPN, endorsers, etc. - Tweets its professional athletes' performance updates

Powerade - Tweets the same posts as its Facebook account - Dark and black and white pictures and videos Based on the amount of interaction and activity, Gatorade has the better Twitter account.

Twitter

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Gatorade Powerade Followers 330,000 152,000 Following 7,432 3,405

Tweets 17,000 2,205

Many of the recommendations for the Facebook page also apply to Powerade’s Twitter account, because they tweet all of their Facebook posts. Twitter was created to be more of a stream-of-consciousness platform, so fun and interesting tweets are ideal. Below are two of Powerade’s tweets, both of which appeared on it’s Facebook page.

Recommendations

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Because Powerade caters to sports enthusiasts, it should tweet about current sports news. By merely tweeting score updates of teams it sponsors, Powerade could increase it’s reach and potential followers. Retweeting, following, and responding to consumers are more strategies to increase interaction.

Gatorade - Majority of posts feature the campaign #WinFromWithin - Uses professional athlete endorsers

Powerade - More interaction than other platforms - Posts same pictures from Facebook and Twitter Although Instagram is the platform that generates the most interaction for Powerade, Gatorade has the more dominant account on Instagram. It generates significantly more action and response from consumers than Powerade’s account.

Instagram

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Gatorade Powerade Followers 658,000 28,100 Following 1,121 4

Posts 1,005 176

Instagram has younger users compared to Facebook, which is a huge advantage for Powerade since it’s target market is individuals between the ages of 13 and 25. While Instagram is one of Powerade’s most active social media platforms, improvements can still be made.

Above are the Powerade and Gatorade Instagram accounts. Not only does Gatorade’s account draw your attention, the products are also obvious. Without looking at the account name, it would be extremely difficult to identify Powerade with its pictures, this is because Powerade products are absent from the posts. Additionally, following more than 4 accounts is an easy way to increase followers and reach. Following the accounts of organizations Powerade partners with will build relationships and increase account activity.

Recommendations

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Gatorade - Videos about it’s professional athlete endorsers - Videos encouraging perseverance

Powerade - Videos from around the world for different markets - Just A Kid campaign videos on PoweradeUS account

The company with the best YouTube channel is Gatorade. Gatorade’s account is more developed and is receiving more views and average views per video.

YouTube

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Gatorade Powerade Subscribers 77,236 19,677 Channels 8 0 Number of Videos 297 273 Total Views 65,736,088 27,686,683 Average Views Per Video

221,334 101,416

To increase views, Powerade needs to captivate the audience. Viewers decide whether they are going to watch the video within the first few seconds. Creating a visually appealing thumbnail for your video is an easy way to convince the audience to watch the video, and using compelling, current content will keep the viewers’ attention throughout the duration of the video.

Using a regular schedule is another way to increase viewership. Similar to television, viewers are more likely to watch videos when they are aware of the release schedules.

Below are good examples of ways to captivate the audience’s attention, but these videos are on the PoweradeUS account, which is not linked to the Powerade account. Linking them could drive more attention to both accounts.

Recommendations

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One of the main reasons Gatorade’s social media accounts are successful is because Gatorade is an older company. Gatorade was the first sports drink and had already established partnerships and sponsorships before Powerade was created.

Targeting the same markets as Gatorade is a risky move for Powerade. Powerade needs to differentiate itself and target a separate niche market, because Gatorade retains a greater portion of the market share.

Instead of focusing on sports athletes, Powerade could target segments of the population who need to stay hydrated, not necessarily because of exercise. Some examples of this include families on the beach, construction workers, farmers, lifeguards, etc. These people spend much of their day outside in the heat; appealing to their need for rehydration could easily increase sales. Targeting the working class is also ideal, due to Powerade’s low prices.

Audience Development

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Gatorade has the more developed and successful social media marketing strategy. Despite being an older brand, Gatorade consistently has the most interactive and entertaining social media accounts. This is partially due to Gatorade’s efforts to satisfy it’s customers’ needs and wants. Their social media posts are relevant, interesting, and eye-catching, and they respond to customer comments. The combination of these actions, along with the previous social media analysis, places Gatorade’s social media marketing strategy above Powerade’s.

Winner

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