Marketing and Sniper

Gatorade is a flagship brand of PepsiCo and has a commanding 75% market share of the sports nutrition beverage marketplace globally, being sold into 80 different countries according to the latest PepsiCo annual report published in late 2011. Gatorade's success in branding and product marketing has actually expanded the global market for sports nutrition beverages during the late 1990s and into the 21rst century. Recently however the company has faced many channels including product line extensions of the last decade which failed to deliver strong results (Pollack, 1997) and a more critical analysis of their ingredients as many of their beverages are sold in public schools (Tallon, 2009). Despite these challenges however, Gatorade continues to experience strong market share and growth. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate and provide recommendations for each of the four areas of the marketing mix including product, price, promotion and place or distribution.

Red Bull is now in the position as the market leader of energy drinks sector, which hold up to 70 percent of the market shares

A significant market share in the energy drink sector can be captured. A major aspect of Sniper’s promotional marketing strategy is to vastly expand coverage; take advantage of Sniper distribution channels to allow it to permeate the market.

Our client, Premier Drinks of Sofia, Bulgaria specializes in the production and distribution of soft drinks and has been the primary soft drink company in Bulgaria for over 20 years. The company produces a variety of products that include carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks, table water and energy drinks. For the past year Enhanced Analytics has delivered an expensive and competitive marketing campaign for Premier Drinks, but despite the continuous effort, careful management and professional dedication Premier Drinks have reported a drop in sales.

Core Firm companies that directly compete with Monster Beverage’s energy drinks that are noted in their Annual Report for 2016 are Coca-Cola Co (TCCC), PepsiCo, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, and Red Bull Gmbh.

When marketed as an energy drink there is the Pros of being a drastically growing market which has grown by 40% already and is projected to hit 13.5 billion by 2018 as well as no single product being marketed as a healthy alternative energy drink. Another pro is that the cost of the product is less than the market average. The con of an energy drink market would be that current news stories are highlighting the health risks of Energy drinks and the diminishing number of consumers who are now drinking them. The sports drink market have a much larger population of consumers ranging from younger ages of 12-24. Also with the average sports drink being much cheaper people may not be willing to pay the $2.75 for a sports drink. With Crescent being an all organic product being an alternative to high fructose corn drinks would increase their market audience. The threats would be the increase in childhood obesity who make up a large portion of the sport drink market the option of just proving water to children is easier and more economically sound for parents rather than continually paying for sports drinks. Lastly as an Organic Drink they are able to market it as a healthy sports/energy drink for the body continuous adult who wants to stay away from non-organic products. This also works as a con where if they market solely to this small group of people they may be losing a lot of consumers who may be avoiding the new fad of vegan, healthy

The price point of Natural Vitality will be in the range of $2.89-$2.99 for a 10oz can depending on the location.

Both competition and market size are of major importance when one explores the positioning of a product. In the case of Crescent Pure, this is vital as Ryan must determine the level of competition that will be faced if the product is marketed as either an energy or sport drink. In the case of an energy product, it should be noticed that there is heavy market dominance by Together, Freight, Razor, Torque and Steller, as they account for roughly 85% of the market. Despite this, it should be seen that the average price point for a 5oz can is $2.99 which is notably higher than Crescent’s $2.75 pricing. Additionally, the market size for sport drinks is of particular interest as it is estimated to grow to $8.5 billion by the year 2013. This, coupled with the fact that the market had grown 40% between the period 2010 – 2012, makes this sector of particular interest to PDB.

The highest percentage of the company sale is as a result of making impulse purchases; hence this requires a good point of sale support team. The market is very competitive. There are a couple of competitors that offer the same products as Gatorade, for example, MW, M.I.T and A.U.I. The experience that the firm has in the

Gatorade has emerged as the global leader in sports nutrition beverages by continually managing their brand to signify high energy, athletic excellence combine with one of the most efficient new product development and introduced processes in the beverage industry. As a result of being able to consistently synchronize these many components of their business so well, Gatorade today holds a 75% market share in the sports nutrition market globally today. Gatorade is owned by PepsiCo, which has made it possible for the company to sell in 80 countries today. Gatorade relies heavily on the PepsiCo distribution and retail network globally. Gatorades' revolutionary approach to managing branding for beverages has served to increase the total market size for this product category globally (Huang, Sarigöllü, 2012). Despite the continued widespread adoption of Gatorade as a healthy energy drink, the company has encountered resistance to its brand and the ingredients used for creating the many variations of Gatorade energy drinks (Tallon, 2009). Despite these setbacks the Gatorade brand continues to experience exceptional growth and stability over time.

A slow growing market is a great way to characterize the energy beverage category in late 2007. This industry was increasing in profits still but was not increasing in profits as quickly due to factors such as market maturity, increasing in prices, competition and new hybrid products (Kerin & Peterson, 2010). The market was still very small but was dominated by Red Bull due to it being one of the first energy drinks, which caused it to dictate the market and have more of an advantage than the other energy beverages. So in late 2007 the market for energy drinks was still

The effect of this aggressive competition can be seen in Figure 2, which shows a sharp decrease in Lucozade’s market share from 2002, following the introduction of Powerade (owned by Coca-Cola) and C&C Club Energise (introduced in 2003) to the market. Every year since 2006, however, has seen Lucozade Sport regain market share, firmly consolidating its position of market dominance in Ireland. This trend endorses the quality of Lucozade Sport’s marketing, as it is succeeding in fighting off stiff competition. “Functional drinks is dominated by Lucozade brand, with Lucozade Energy and Lucozade Sport recording a combined volume (market)  share of  54%  in 2009” as stated in Euromonitor International (2011).

Evaluate the possible solutions using a simple decision making technique to arrive at the best solution. Your evaluation should include human, material and financial resources.

_1. HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE ENERGY BEVERAGE CATEGORY, COMPETITORS, CHANNELS, AND DPSG'S CATEGORY PARTICIPATION IN LATE 2007?_

Our society has become athletic and healthy in the last 30 years, but it has also become very technological. Today’s consumers go to the internet to find new and existing products that meet their needs and provide value for them in their everyday lives. Gatorade has decided to revamp their internet marketing strategy to gain an online presence and get the upper hand on their competitors. The competitors we are going to analyze and critique are PowerAde, Vitaminwater and Coke. I identified the competitors by looking at the sports drink and soda industries to see what companies are Gatorade’s main competition and what strategies they can use to get ahead of these 3 prominent competitors. The first competitor I’m going to analyze is probably Gatorade’s biggest threat in PowerAde.