You are now taking the role of a marketing consultant. Referring back to your situational analysis, SWOT and the Marketing Mix, evaluate the firm's marketing strategy for the product.How can the company take advantage of their strengths, improve their weaknesses, explore opportunities, and manage the threats described in your paper

What recommendations do you have for improving the product's performance?Recommendations can involve any of the 4Ps. Include a discussion of strategic alternatives

Based on your analysis, make three recommendations to improve the product's market position and business performance.

1.Discuss each recommendation thoroughly.These could be a new product, a new target, new advertising or promotion, pricing changes, etc.It is important that you say why you suggested it and how it will result in brand growth. These suggestions should be specific and not generic.

Generic suggestions are ones like: "advertise more" or "improve the sales force." Specific suggestions are ones like: "improve effectiveness of the sales force by starting a training program that emphasizes closing and presentation skills."

2.Give details of the changes you would make.Remember that your suggestions should address specific problems or opportunities that you've identified so that you can justify them.

3.Put all for sections that you have now completed into one consolidated document.

4.Cite your sources.

THE INFORMATION FOR GATORADE COMPANY

Situation Analysis

The group and I decided to research Gatorade for this project. Gatorade is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo. Gatorade is part of the sports beverage industry. Gatorade is a well known name in the athletic community and fitness community. The sports beverage industry is segmented by types, by flavors, and by distribution channels. The segment in which Gatorade is competing in the sports beverage industry is isotonic, which means their drinks are around 6-8% carbohydrate.

The sales trends determine how much the sports beverage industry will grow in the future. The Growth and size of the sports beverage industry will grow a lot in the next 5 years because of what products they use in their drinks and the different types of flavors. The reason why the sports industry is growing is because the athlete community is growing and there's an inclination in physical fitness and increased numbers of fitness centers. Gatorade uses Isotonic in their drinks because it contains the same amount of sugar and salt in a human body. Gatorade helps replace electrolytes, energy, and water before, during, and after competition or training. Gatorade is also healthy for you because when you do physical activities the body loses sugar and salt that are inside your body and gatorade uses Isotonic to replace it.

The key competitors for Gatorade are Coca Cola, Powerade,and other sports drinks/beverages. Gatorade had a 69.5% share of the US sports drink market in 2013. It probably a lot more now because of how well known it is and the market the market that gatorade is in is growing rapidly. In 2019 the market share for gatorade was 72%

The Company

In 1965, an assistant coach from the University of Florida sat down with a team of university physicians and asked them why his players were being affected by the heat. Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. H. James Free and Dr. Alejandro de Quesada discovered two key factors that caused the players problems. One of the key factors was that they were losing fluids and electrolytes and were not being replaced. The second key factor was that large amounts of carbohydrates that the players bodies used for energy were not being replenished. They balanced for carbohydrate and electrolytes together and they called it gatorade. They called it gatorade because they were at the University of Florida, who are called the Gators.

Gatorade's mission is to become "the world's premier consumer products company focused on convenient foods and beverages", as well as provide opportunities for employees, business partners, and community growth and enrichment. Gatorade is doing fine financially, Gatorade delivers $7.5 billion annual revenue but it decreased because of Covid. Since there were no sports or any fitness centers that were open no one really needed gatorade because people are not losing electrolytes and carbohydrates.

Gatorades goal is to increase product awareness by promoting the fact that gatorade is the world's number 1, scientifically-tested sports drink. They also want the ability to hydrate 90% better than water and 40% better than any other sports beverages. The products that Gatorade offers are food and beverages. Gatorade beverages represent 72% of the market share of sports drinks.

The Products

Where do the products fit in the BCG Portfolio Matrix?

Gatorade's products fit in the BCG Portfolio Matrix category of the "Stars", Gatorade's products are their golden treasure when it comes to generating high levels of income. Other than commercial and endorsement deals with athletes and major league sports, Gatorade's products are the big income bringers.

What is the company's competitive advantage, if any?

Gatorade as a brand has been in the Sport's Drink category for a while now, since 1970, not only succeeding but being the face of athlete's number #1 sports drink. The brand has expanded their markets and are invested in every single major league sport across the globe, ranging from soccer, to NASCAR racing, to football to basketball, swimming to tennis etc.

What type(s) of growth strategies does the company utilize?

Gatorade started to use and expand their platform and brand. Starting out as a sports drink company, over time people got bored of the same thing. Gatorade started to expand their variety in flavors, in bottle choices and designs, by not only being a drink but a protein and electrolyte powder, by also being a concentrated liquid that is meant to be infused with water, by putting electrolytes inside of a gummy/candy form, they also created protein bars. Gatorade was very strategic to be appealing their customers and catching their customer's eyes.

What are your product's key competitors?

Body Armor

Powerade

Vitamin Water

Describe the major competitors.

Body Armor is Gatorade's biggest competitor, because they are very in tune with their customers and the culture. Giving the people what they want, while being flashy and appealing to the eyes, mainly Body Armor is still just in a liquid form and not as complex as Gatorade is but Body Armor's owner, Mike Reploe, made a bold statement saying "Body Armor will take Gatorade's thrown as the #1 Sports-Drink maker by 2025.

Powerade has been competing with Gatorade for years but haven't been able to become as complex and available as Gatorade which ultimately is Powerade's kryptonite.

Vitamin Water isn't Gatorade's biggest competitor but they do steal some of Gatorade's shine, because Vitamin water is healthier and doesn't contain the ingredients you cannot pronounce. After the bad talk Gatorade faced over the years by having "preservatives, artificial flavors, and risky ingredients", Vitamin Water has the complete opposite posing as a threat to Gatorade especially in the conversation of when it comes to the health of the athlete.

What are the relative market shares of your product and its key competitors?

Gatorade, Body Armor, Vitamin Water, and Powerade go after the same target audience, athletes. It's the same catch, no matter the age, or the sport you play, if you're an athlete these drinks are a necessity.

External Environment - Situational Analysis

1. How does the external environment (Economic, Political, Social, Natural, Technical, and Competitive) exert influence on your product?

The economic environment always exerts influence on a product because it will influence the cost of a product. If the economy was in an awful position, Gatorade prices would go down.

The political environment affects the marketing of a product. In our country today if Gatorade sponsors an athlete that has an extreme political view that is not appreciated by the public then Gatorade would have tremendous problems, while the product stocks and sales would plummet, while if Gatorade supports athletes and activists that are liked by the majority of the population during difficult political times, sales may go up. This also ties into the social environment, as they go together in our society right now.

The natural environment affects Gatorade, because what is going on in nature affects Sporting events, which is the main marketing ploy or what brings in the most income for Gatorade. If there are unplayable conditions outside, there can be no games played, which is less marketing for Gatorade.

The Technical environment affects Gatorade because the increase in technology and the dying market of cable television affects how you must market. Gatorade will need to market in different ways with the advancement of technology, as they may have to look into using more Youtube ads and less commercials.

The competitive environment affects Gatorade because if there is a close competitor Gatorade must change their product to please the consumers, or market in different ways to please the consumers. If a competitor ever gets close enough to Gatorade to steal a bunch of consumers, then Gatorade would have to change something to stop the bleeding.

1. What are the key factors affecting the company/brand?

The key factors affecting Gatorade is the prominence of sports marketing. The continuous growth of sports and the new athletes coming in and out the sport. Gatorade must continue to win over these new athletes and sponsor them, or other competitors will. Gatorade has to work hard to prevent any other competitor from becoming a house name like them, don't get comfortable with their success.

1. Perform a SWOT analysis on your product and discuss your analysis.

S=.Good product quality/ .Strong brand name/ It has science to back up their product and is proven to excel and maintain physical performance during competition.

W=Low advertising and visibility/ People unaware about product benefits/ High price/ Many varieties tend to confuse the customers.

O= Leverage successful brand Pepsi/ Advertise more/ Celebrity endorsements/ Tap into new performance products ex Protein etc./ They could add a vitamin enhanced hydrator to compete with brands like vitamin water that take some of their target segment.

T= Threat from other drinks competitors/Threat from substitutes like fruit juices

Market Segmentation

1. What target market strategy is used (mass, multiple markets, niche)?

Gatorade has a great strategy in their market. In the 90s, Gatorade gave Jordan a big contract. TAnd the reason for this everyone around the word knew who Jordan was. And everyone wanted to be like him. Didn't matter a long time ago. And this made gatorade go crazy in the chart. Because of this, gatorades keep using big time athletes. And by adding female athletes helped them gett ahead of other brands because they haven't done that yet. And this shows that they believes in equals rights

Lionel Messi | La Liga

Dwyane Wade | NBA

Serena Williams | Tennis

Paul George| NBA

J.J. Watt | NFL

Zion Williamson | NBA

Jayson Tatum | NBA

Karl-Anthony Towns | NBA

Bryce Harper | MLB

Todd Gurley | NFL

Marketing Mix

Product- The very product of Gatorade itself is a beverage that is mainly used to enhance performance during athletic events. There are a certain amount of nutrients and electrolytes lost in sweat during physical exertion, Gatorade helps to replace all of these lost nutrients, helping to perform better in the middle of a game or event.

Price- Gatorade is very reasonably priced in its market of sports beverages. As its nearest competitor, Powerade, does not differ very much in price, and as far as other beverages go that are not necessarily sports beverages, Gatorade competes in cost with those also. Gatorade competes in its market very well due to these very reasons.

Place- Gatorade is everywhere in the United States. There is not a convenience store you go to in the country that will not include Gatorade in their store. Gatorade is a household name and can be found everywhere, it is promoted on commercials on just about every platform and as mentioned before, is represented by plenty of big name athletes. So as far as place goes, there is not a place in this country that does not include some form of Gatorade product or marketing. Now, globally Gatorade is also very popular, but of course there are certain environments in the world that do not have access to the famous sports drink, but there's not much Gatorade can do certain markets that just don't have a need or interest for Gatorade.

Promotion- Gatorade does an amazing job marketing. Gatorade is very hip to social issues and new athletes, from Michael Jordan to Zion Williamson, Gatorade knows what athletes are big in the world today and finds a way to sponsor them. I've seen more Gatorade ads in my lifetime then I've seen any other product, Gatorade promotesmarkets incredibly well. One thing Gatorade could improve a little in is trying to make Gatorade a little more prominent in countries that otherwise do not consume the beverage. It's hard to get Gatorade In some countries due to the banning of BVO (Brominated Vegetable Oil) but other than those countries there's not many reasons why Gatorade shouldn't be everywhere else.

Gatorade's competitive strategy is clearly just to our market to all athletes everyone and c. Control the majority of the star athletes and sports. After all, every NFL team has Gatorade coolers on their sidelines, not Powerade coolers. Also Gatorade is dumped on the winning coach of major sports events every year, not Powerade or vitamin water. Gatorade's competitive strategy is to continue to control all of the major sports markets so no one else can ever catch up or compete with them, because that's how they continue to hold an insanely huge competitive advantage on the sports drink market.

Target Market(s)

1. Identify and describe the target market(s) for the products(s) about which you are writing.

Gatorade is very smart. Instead of staying with one product, they have opened up to more than just s sports drink. Their products line now include Gatorade Carbohydrate Energy Drink, Gatorade Protein Recovery Shake, the Gatorade Nutrition Shake, and the Gatorade Nutrition Bar. they want to branch into the work out world now. Muscle milk is a big drink that people use to recover after a workout.

1. Describe the characteristics of this market segment (Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic, Socioeconomic Benefits Sought, and Usage Rate). Do not say something like "young, mid-to-upper class women who want their hair" and consider the target market identified and described. Try to pinpoint the thing(s) that make(s) the target market respond to the firm's marketing mix in ways that are different from people who are not members of it. For example: "young mid-to-upper class women ages 16-24 who perceive that they might have a dandruff problem, who are motivated by prestige and glamour, who like to pamper themselves and are willing to pay a little extra to do it."

Gatorade's primary target demographic is athletic in the 16-34 age category. Since 2010, Gatorade has been looking to expand its audience. It may be considered a sports drink,

Why is this your target market?

The Gatorade target market is 16-34 year athletes. The reason for this is because this is when people are taking sports to the next level and need their body to stay with them.

1. What is the potential size of this market segment? What is its growth rate?

normally promoted as a sports drink for replenishing lost electrolytes after a hard workout. However, Gatorade has aired ads that position the brand for use at other times. Some Gatorade ads promote its use during cold and flu seasons as an aid in replenishing lost fluids due to illness. Gatorade is employing a usage occasion positioning strategy. Gatorade is to continue delivering growth in the 4-6% range

According to the Bureau of Labor & Statistics, there are at least 1 million professional athletes in the United States. The number of non-professional athletes is estimated to be twice as much as the paid professionals. The growth rates of this market continue to grow at a consistent rate because more and more people participate in sports every year. Sports beverage companies must forecast their marketing strategies to meet the demands of this growing segment.

Gatorade dominates the U.S. sports drink category, holding a 72.1% market share of retail sales, according to Euromonitor. Coke's Powerade falls in a distant second, with a 16.1% share.

Consumer Buying Behavior

1. What type of information search is conducted? Include the information sources consulted.

The information search conducted by consumers is if Gatorade is more nutritious than Powerade or other competitors, and through research that they conduct they will figure out that Powerade is actually more nutritious than Gatorade. This causes some sort of problems for Gatorade, but not enough to take them off the throne. A simple google search asking whether or not Gatorade is more nutritious than its competition will let you know that Gatorade is not on the top in that department, but once again Gatorade reigns supreme in the overall market and this will not lose them much money.

1. Which type of consumer buying decision making is involved in the purchase?

The consumer is making a decision on whether or not they want to buy Gatorade, Water or other competitors for a sporting event or maybe even just for taste. Usually in the decision they think of nutrition, taste and price. The price of Gatorade is generally the same or cheaper than others, the nutrition of Gatorade is a little worse than competitors, but also Gatorade is marketed so well by such well known people that Consumers may also decide if they want to drink the same thing as their favorite athletes or people.

J. What is the level of consumer involvement in the consumer purchase decision? Why?

The level of consumer involvement in the consumer purchase decision is essentially high because they are choosing directly if they want to drink Gatorade over other competitors. I know that I prefer to drink Gatorade in competition over water or vitamin water. But, everyone is different and some consumers may just buy water instead of purchasing Gatorade.

Pricing Strategy

Gatorade is the biggest sports drink in the market in the world and it has a lot of competitors. Gatorade used to follow a premium pricing policy in its price. But competitors of gatorade started to enter the market, so gatorade slashed its prices so it can hold its position in the market. Gatorade also used sales promotion as a means to increase revenue which would aim at repeat purchases later. Gatorade targets young and old athletes and it is appropriate for their target market because it's targeting athletes who have and they are making it cheaper for younger athletes to buy.

Compare prices

Gatorade

$1.99 to $3.49 (depends on this size of the bottle)

Poweraid

$0.89 to $1.99 per bottle

Body Armor

$1.99 to $2.49 per bottle

Vitamin Water

$0.94 to $1.67 per bottle

Promotional Strategy

Gatorade advertising of the company is aired online and offline so it maintains in the mind of the consumers. Online advertisements for gatorade products are on websites like NBA.com, Sports Zoneand, and the official website of Gatorade. It is less expensive and it's more popular with the tech savvy younger generation. Also gatorade is the official drink for NFL,NBA, Soccer Federation, and other athletic organizations. In 1990 Michael Jordan said that " gatorade is it's favorite drink". At the time Michael Jordan was a well known and favorite athlete and was considered the best basketball player in the NBA. After that the sales rate went up.

Social Media

Gatorade gets well known athletes from each sport and puts them on social media drinking a gatorade. The only time they put commercials on tv is when a sport event is going on because it is their main target market.

The brands message

Gatorade only uses one image in all its communication. The logo used today wasn't the same image used today. Gatorade has different messages when they are trying to sell a gatorade drink. Gatorade uses different messages because people may not have a connection with what gatorade is selling in that commercial but they might feel a connection in a different advertisement with a different message. They have different strategies for different segments because gatorade knows there are different people and like different things.

The benefits and the competition

The benefits that gatorade has is its ingredients that are inside the drink that helps athletes replenish their energy and it is also healthy for you. It also helps that it is well known around the world. The competitive advantage that they have is that they signed every famous and well known athlete around the world. Gatorade is top of their market and they slashed their prices which makes them compete with its competitors. The brand positioning has remained the same because it established itself as a sports drink and it's well known so they do not need to change anything. Gatorade promotion is different from all of its competitors because they sign famous athletes and their competitors use regular people which is fine but people want to become or they look up to those athletes that gatorade sign and it gets them more people.

Advantage of their strengths

Gatorade has a great market and great faces in the brand. And they can get anyone to try their brand. Even if it's a good or bad product. That's how you know you are a strong brand.

Improve their weaknesses

Gatorade weakness is just being a drink brand. They can open their window for more than that. They can open a market in clothes. Right now Nike and Gatorade work together and drop stuff together. For example nba players nike gatorade bottle and a sneaker they have with nike. They just need to open up

improving

Gatorade can improve by buying other brands. To get their name out and earn more money

In the end

Gatorade is a great brand and the shy is not the limit for them. They have some stuff to work on but no brand is perfect.

http://online.sfsu.edu/hussain/mktg632/sample%20report%201.pdf

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/02/gatorade-and-powerade-try-to-adapt-as-sports-drinks-sales-decline.html