Coca-Cola’s relaunch of Powerade has led to an increase in the sports drink’s market share. Despite its lackluster performance in recent years, Powerade is now powering forward in the battle for share of the US sports drinks category. Its recent relaunch has helped the brand gain ground in a market dominated by Gatorade, now owned by Coca-Cola’s chief rival PepsiCo. Powerade is a long, long way from catching up with Gatorade, however.
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Coca-Cola has been struggling to gain top positions outside of its core cola brand in the US for some time. PepsiCo has been one of the companies to pre-empt a leadership position in the US, with its acquisition of Tropicana pure fruit juices – and more recently, its $13 billion acquisition of Quaker Oats with its Gatorade sports drink brand, giving PepsiCo the top slot in this category too.
Coke, however, has reported that Powerade had gained share in the marketplace for the first time in a while. Some of this gain has been driven by the introduction of the Powerade Light range as well as the B3, B6 and B12 vitamin fortified lines. However, Gatorade still dominates the sports drinks category in the US, with a huge 78% share, while Powerade occupies a second position with only 15%, according to Beverage Digest.
Coca-Cola has used a number of marketing tools to reinvigorate the Powerade brand, which mainly targets 17-24 year olds with active lifestyles. Light and vitamin enriched variants enforce health-driven purchasers. New packaging and advertising campaigns featuring athletes performing daring feats have renewed brand awareness. This strategy appears to be working, with the brand’s category share reportedly making a 1.5% gain. However, the drink is clearly not even close to challenging Gatorade’s dominance.
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