Powerade Unveils it's marketing strategy

As an avid consumer of the iconic sports drink, I thought it was only appropriate for me to report on Powerade's latest campaign for the Paris 2024 Olympics. I fondly refer to Powerade as the under-the-armor of the sports drink industry because they are both widely popular brands in their specific markets with loyal customers. Yet, they do not have the same reach as their competitors might, especially in the. According to an article from cnn.com, the study done by the research firm Euromonitor found that Gatorade tops the U.S sports drink market with 63.5% of the market share, while its younger competition, Powerade controls 14.3 %, followed by Body Armor, with 12%, and finally Prime with only 1.7%. Powerade hopes that this emotional campaign will create stronger brand loyalty, which could improve its shares in a market that is supposed to grow from 22.71 billion dollars in 2022 to 32.89 billion dollars by 2030. The campaign is the newest addition to their "Pause is Power" platform, founded in 2022, which focuses on the mental health of athletes and emphasizes the benefits of taking breaks. Simone Biles 

The article from the news company marketing dive, "Powerade empowers athletes who 'take a pause' for global campaign timed to the Olympics," discusses Powerade's newest campaign for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It includes an emotional video called The Vault that follows Simone Biles rediscovering her voice and videos with team Powerade athletes talking about their own experiences that will later be broadcast on social media/TV. The rest of the campaign includes unveiling a new drink called Powerade Gold, made especially for the Paris Olympics and the Paralympics, and a bespoke Olympic village in collaboration with the international Olympic committee.  Powerade is using this campaign to try to get a stronger loyalty base, which would lead to increased sales and marketing shares in the sports drink industry. They aren't the only ones tapping into the Olympic hype, as Nike, puma, and Athelta are just some of the brands using it to promote new campaigns.   

The only challenge Powerade is facing right now is that it isn't as popular as Gatorade. As I mentioned earlier, Gatorade controls 63.5% of the sports drink industry, while Powerade only makes up around 14.7%. This makes it harder for Powerade to be relevant. They are approaching this challenge through their campaign for the Paris 2024 Olympics, while Gatorade continues to soar in popularity. 

Having Powerade's campaign based around an athlete's mental health is nothing new or unique. In 2022, Gatorade released a short film starring Messi called " The Next 90 Minutes," which aimed to promote the idea that preparation is the key to success, with mental health being a huge factor. Just like how the Gatorades campaign was centered around a legendary athlete being shown in a short film, Powerade uses a short film starring Simone Biles that is centered around her return to gymnastics after taking a backing out of the Tokyo Olympics. Powerade takes a unique approach by building a bespoke Olympic village that will offer things like physical recovery or respite and will act as a place to hold mental health conversations. Since the bespoke Olympic Village or the rest of the campaign has just started to be released, it's hard to know if it has reached its particular buyer persona yet. If it does, it will most likely be the everyday athlete, and it will be done through the idea of marketing by association. What I mean by marketing through association is that through the actions of building the bespoke Olympic village, Powerade is setting themselves. 

I think their marketing strategy has been well thought out as instead of just focusing on broadcast, they are choosing to expand it out to vignettes, social and digital media platforms, and out-of-home (OOH) channels. In the past, the Olympics would be spread out through certain cable stations, with some of them only being able to be accessed through subscriptions. Nowadays, you are able to stream the Olympics through platforms like NBC's own platform, Peacock, which has a starting price of 5.99. I remember during the 2022 Tokyo Olympics, if I wanted to be able to watch certain sports, like rock climbing or skateboarding, at different times of the day, I had to purchase a peacock subscription, as it covers all of the sports. If Powerade only focused on broadcast ads, they would limit themselves to only the people who can afford the subscription, missing out on the demographic of those who can't. Instead, they can tap into a larger audience using different platforms, which is especially important if they want to build brand loyalty with the younger generation, who might not want to spend the money to pay for the subscriptions. 

Something I found interesting about their marketing strategy was how much of an emphasis they were putting on the stories of Olympic and elite athletes. Each of the ads they would roll out would focus on one of their Team Powerade Athletes who shared a similar story to Simone Biles. The lineup includes Olympians Mathelide Greene, Harrie Lavreysen, and Tyler Wright. If I were the brand/project manager, I wouldn't have just focused on the stories of elite athletes; instead, I would have expanded it to the everyday athlete. I understand that consumers can be drawn to a product if there is a certain perception around it; much like how a luxury brand will try to push out the perception of exclusivity and elitism, a sports brand will try to do the same thing. Whether it's Gatorade, Nike, or even Prime, they will try to get their products in the hands of elite athletes to offer the idea that if you use their products, you can be just like them; it's a tale as old of time. Another tale as old as time is everyone has a story to tell, no matter if you're an Olympic or an everyday athlete. Lots of everyday athletes have dealt with burnout or mental health issues, and in an era of relevancy 

From this assignment, I learned how to write a deeper, in-depth blog post, which was something I hadn't been able to do before. Writing a blog post always seemed daunting, and when I first saw this assignment, I felt overwhelmed. As I started to piece together the information and come up with what I wanted to say, the assignment became easier than I originally thought. I'm still trying to find my voice when it comes to writing for marketing, as it's something I have never done before. I think that by the next couple of blog posts, I will have a sense of how I want it to sound and present it in a way that makes sense. 

https://www.powerade.com/

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/powerade-simone-biles-summer-olympics-global-campaign/713089/

https://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/powerade-unveils-olympic-games-experience-and-global-campaign-for-paris-2024