Piya’s Blog

Coca-Cola’s Powerade and PepsiCo.’s Gatorade have been rival drinks for decades but have been distiinguished clearly through advertizing motives, marketing decisions and beverage ingredients.

 Uncovering history, it’s been revealed that Gatorade used to be bottled by Coke. The twist is in what happened after Gatorade got its own independent bottling copany. Coke conveniently came out with POwerade to be BGatorade’s cmpetitor. (Crowther). Data from Jill Bruss’s Going for Gold article stated, in five year sales average for 2004, that PepsiCo. was known to sell 37 percent of its products as beverages, one being Gatorade. Coke continued to stay dedicated to selling all its products as beverages, one being Powerade. (Bruss). Also, Gatorade succeeds as it targets and advertizes to active consumers of all ages while Powerade profits when aiming directly for the male teen market, using drinks of both bold colors and flavor titles. (Howell).

Throughout American history, “as late as the 1990’s, Cocal-Cola was one of the most respected companies, a mster of brand-building and management in the dawning global era.” The consistency in beverages for the U. S. market’s Coca-Cola company have stayed just about the same, where in 1982 the only new best-selling drink was Diet Coke. However, ” in recent years Coke has been outbid by the rival PepsiCo.” to get “noncarb beverages like…Gatorade.” (Faust). In Canada, Powerade has been known to have a 45 percent share compared to Gatorade nationally- a dramatic difference from the U. S. market, which is dominated by PepsiCo.-owned Gatorade, which claims almost 90 percent of the category.” In Canada, representing 98 percent of Coca-Cola’s business in Canada and 8 percent of Coca-Cola’s enterprise’s (CCE) North American volume, the Coca-Cola Canada business…plays a big rol in defining the carbonated soft drink category.” (Bruss). 

When CCE bought Cocal-Cola in 1997, Barlow the leader of Canand’s Cocal-Cola stated:

“The challenge we have is that we have to make sure we don’t take our eye off the carbonated business. We want to make sure… our juice drink businesses are incremental to our overall growth. We really have that balance.”

The type of marketing strategies are important in keeping a company successful and on top of the game. Some marketing techniques used for both the beverage companies is advertizing with influential iconic figures and sponsoring sporting events. Gatorade, altogether has had a major success in America where it has “leverage[d] the popularity of Michael Jordan as its spokesman, has a licensing agreement with the NFL and is the official sports drink of the NBA, Major League Baseball, PGA, NASCAR, U.S. Soccer and numerous other sports associations.” (Howell). “We’ve been growing on average 9% a year or more,” said Rachel Ellis, director of marketing for Gatorade. (Howell). Yet, Gatorade isn’t the only one reaping in the profits through advertizing. Even, Powerade was recognized as “the official sports drink of the 2000 Olympic Games, [and] is affiliated with the National Hockey League, World Cup, Tour de France and major college athletic programs.” (Howell).

Coca-Cola’s profits dropped through when PepsiCo made a hit with Gatorade. Emanuel Goldman, who has followed Coke as an analyst since the 1970’s even said ”‘They’ve been their own worst enemy, a casualty of their own success.’”  “As a result, Coke’s Powerade has just a 17% share of the fast-growing sports-drink segment in the U.S., vs. 81% for PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand.” (Bruss). “There was no vision, no marketing,” recalls one former executive. “It was all growth through distribution.”(Foust). Despite the Coca-Cola’s problems, it is still [known as] a cash cow. (Bruss).The challenge we have is that we have to make sure we don’t take our eye off the carbonated business,” he says. “We want to make sure that the water growth, our isotonic, our juice and our juice drink businesses are incremental to our overall growth. We really have that balance.

Some of the significant differences in the Gatorade and Powerade drinks are the ingredients like the amount of sodium, sugar, and types of sugar. Gatorade more sodium compared to Powerade where 450 milligrams  per liter in Gatorade beats 225 milligrams in Powerade. The salt helps to “prevent hyponatremia, a condition in which the concentration of sodium in the blood becomes dangerously low.” Altogether, Gatorade replacescsodium lost in sweat better compared to Powerade. For sugar, American College of Sports Medicine recommends beverages of 4-8 percent. ”Gatorade has 6 percent while Powerade has 8 percent.” Lastly, there has been a controversy on the type of sugars used in the drinks. Two types consist of polymers and glucose. ”Some suggest that drinks with multiple types of sugars may deliver sugar more quickly than drinks that contain glucose alone.” (Crowther). The Powerade polymers seem to offer “an edge” and has a lighter after taste for some people. Then there is a range of electrolytes and certain chemicals added into the drinks.

Altogether, the gatorade and Powerade companies have been rivaling for a long time, and still continue as more drinks come into play in the beverage markets.

Isdell has said he’ll explore new beverage categories. If so, he’ll be starting well behind Pepsi. Pepsi got a two-year jump on Coke in bottled water and later outmaneuvered Big Red to acquire both SoBe and Gatorade. As a result, Coke’s Powerade has just a 17% share of the fast-growing sports-drink segment in the U.S., vs. 81% for PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand. And after garnering just a 2.8% share of the popular energy-drink category — vs. 58.5% for independent rival Red Bull — Coke plans to try again with a second energy drink, Full Throttle, in January.

Dean FoustWith Nanette Byrnes in New York and bureau reports. “Gone Flat. ” Business Week 20 Dec. 2004: 76-82. Platinum Full Text Periodicals. ProQuest. 4 Nov. 2008

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Gatorade is 6% sugar, whereas Powerade is 8% sugar. Since both fall within the generally recommended 4-8% range, either drink is acceptable according to this criterion. As a side note, in a 1998 review article, Xiaocai Shi and Carl Gisolfi (Sports Medicine 25: 157-72, 1998) recommended that the level of sugar in sports drinks be limited to 5-7%, a range that would include Gatorade but not Powerade. However, given that Dr. Shi is a Gatorade employee and that the late Dr. Gisolfi used to receive grant money from Gatorade, this recommendation is not surprising.

Crowther, Gregory J. Gatorade vs. Powerade: battle of the beverages. Vers. Northwest Runner Magazine. July 2002. Department of Medicine, University of Washington. 31 Oct. 2008

http://faculty.washington.edu/crowther/Misc/RBC/QandA3.shtml

The presentation of kola-nuts is a privilege reserved exclusively for the men. This privilege is denied to women for cultural reasons. When the kola-nut is presented to a guest, the kola-nut travels around until finally it comes back to the host. The elder who is present at the ceremony holds the kola-nut up and says a prayer to the ancestors. Thus, such prayers are said often in Igbo ceremonial gatherings. The gods of the ancestors and all the friendly spirits are summoned together and offered the kola-nuts. The elder demands good health for the good people, and ill health for their enemies and peace for all in the village.

Onyemaechi, Uzoma. Kola-Nut — Symbol of Hospitality. Igbo Culture and Socialization. Vers. Online. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: kenwu.com. 19 Oct. 2008 <http://www.kwenu.com/igbo/igbowebpages/igbo.dir/culture/culture_and_socialization.html

The ceremony may vary depending on the occasion and people present at the ceremony, but there is a common understanding in the traditional way of breaking them. To illustrate this delicate ceremony, I will take the occasion of welcoming a group of visitors to a village.

The host presents a plate with a number of Kola nuts (ranging from two up to sixteen) to the leader of the delegation, who will take the plate and shows it to the most senior member of his entourage. To acknowledge that he has seen the plate, he briefly touches the plate with his right hand, before it is shown to less senior members and so forth till most members have taken a glimpse of the plate. After that, the host gets the plate returned from the visitor and takes one of the kola nuts and gives it to the visitor who says a prayer.

Widjaja, Michael. “Igbo insight guide to Enugu and Igboland’s Culture and Language.” Editorial. Nnöö - Welcome to Enugu 2007. Kola Nut. 2007. Igbo insight guide to Enugu and Igboland’s Culture and Language. 17 Oct. 2008 <http://www.igboguide.org/index.php?l=chapter8>.