Not Just For Kids

Missed opportunities.

We see it in the business world all the time. Blockbuster passed up the chance to buy Netflix. Nintendo let Sony use partnership technology to develop the Playstation.

Very few well established brands have the potential of being great. Right now, Abbott Labs is sitting on a potential multi-million dollar opportunity with Pedialyte.

In the last decade Pedialyte has moved into the upper echelons of drinks usually reserved for water and Gatorade. Pretty good company to be in.

So happy

These are what experts recommend you drink to recover from being sick, exercising, or just general hydration replenishment.

For Gatorade, you can see their target markets all over the place. Brand awareness with being the official beverage of every major sports league. Long history of being the drink for sports. Also doesn’t hurt now they are owned by Pepsi which has a huge marketing budget.

Enter the underdog: Pedialyte. Over the past few years, more and more experts and word of mouth marketing has Pedialyte being the drink for dehydration. All this without a heavy marketing push by Abbott.

Plenty of reasons Pedialyte over Gatorade is the better choice (less sugar for example). However, being owned by a drug company Abbott Labs puts a crimp on the marketing focus and distribution methods. Abbott needs to either shift their marketing focus (highly unlikely) or they need to sell/spin off the brand.

Here are 3 things Pedialyte needs to do to grow as a brand

1. Re-brand immediately! Last thing you want to be known as is Pedia which is Ancient Greek for child. You are trying to appeal to adults (which is your larger market) thus you need a new name, logo, design, etc. Just don’t use anything with Ade (sorry Powerade).
2. Smaller-ish sponsorships. After rebranding, Pedialyte can jump into smaller-ish sponsorships. College team/conference here and there. Follow the Under Armour model that didn’t jump right into professional sports sponsorships, felt like a natural grassroots followed brand, even though that was a planned strategy. Even Reebok bought sponsorships of Crossfit and Spartan Race. Now Reebok had Adidas money to become a prime sponsor, Pedialyte would just need small sponsorships here and there. Pedialyte should be pushing their story of a grassroots and word of mouth community driven brand.
3. Pre/post workout. Right now Pedialyte is highly known asa hangover recovery. However they know that the science behind that allows their drink to be marketed to more buyers than just people suffering that headache the morning after. Healthy beverages are growing as soft drinks are decreasing rapidly. Pedialyte still has the stigma as child growth beverage. This shift to workout is where Gatorade has seen their rapid growth.

Pedialyte has the chance many brands only dream of. Abbott Labs really needs to take a hard look at this opportunity and realize that the drink isn’t just for kids.