The Gatorade Influence
Do you know any companies that started and are no longer around? Or even a company that has been at the top of its industry and never fell off? Gatorade is the correct answer to both of these questions it was the first ever sports drink to hit the market and set the tone with a bang. It was founded in 1965 when the assistant coach of the University of Florida football team the “Gators” and a team of university physicians wanted to determine why so many of his players were affected by the heat and heat related illness. Dr. Robert Cade and colleagues discovered two key factors that were causing the football players to be affected by the heat so much. “Fluids and electrolytes the players lost through sweat were not being replaced, and large amounts of carbohydrates the players’ bodies used for energy were not being replaced” these results were taken to the lab and Gatorade was created. The Florida Gators took this drink and became the first team to have a sports drink on the sideline and in that same year they won the Orange Bowl over George Town University and when the opposing coach got asked why they lost he said “we didn’t have Gatorade-that made the difference”. The Kansas City Chiefs took Gatorade on to their sideline as well and won the Super Bowl over the Minnesota Vikings. Few years later Gatorade became the drink of the NFL in 1983 and finally taking over and becoming the number one sports drink in the planet in 2011. Gatorade has led the way for the innovation of sports science in athlete’s performances and along the way became way more then just a sports drink.
Another big time motivator that Gatorade uses to influence sales is celebrity endorsements. Gatorade utilizes both ethos and pathos in 1996 when their “Be Like, Mike” advertisement hit the market. This advertisement stared Michael Jordan who was thee biggest athlete and recognizable faces in the world. This advertisement set the tone for Gatorade because it was their first big time athlete or should I say the biggest athlete arguably of all time. This was such a big hit that it now inspires one of Michael Jordan’s shoes that has Gatorade’s orange cap color as part of the color scheme and is a limited edition shoe. Gatorade continuously has superstar athletes like Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi, and Kobe Bryant to promote their product and this reaches out across internationally because these athletes are known all around the world. Making the Gatorade brand worldwide.
The use of athletes in Gatorade advertisement builds an association with having a great body linking it directly to people with ideal or athletic body image. This is done not directly, but indirectly because the athletes that are showcased in advertisements are top athletes and have ideal body structure and muscle mass because they are so active and heavily trained. This is appealing to people that are trying to achieve this body image or already have it and begin to formulate a correlation that Gatorade is part of the formula to obtaining this ideal physique. This falls under the term of self-image congruence models.
Gatorades successful history, sport science institution, and this monumental sponsorship take over of NBA’s developmental league have created an extremely credible and widely known brand personality. When you think of Gatorade what do you think of? You were probably in the ballpark of its brand personality if you said high performance athletes and athletic success. Now think of the brand personality of Powerade or BodyArmor if you know what that is? Probably could think of one right. The brand personality of Gatorade gives an edge over other drinks like Powerade and BodyArmor because with this built personality when the thought of sports drinks comes to mind Gatorade is the front-runner. Some may even argue that Powerade is Gatorade’s Doppelgänger because it looks fairly similar as well as offers similar flavor options. It even sales for a slightly cheaper price and in stores it can be found underneath Gatorade.
So in conclusion, Gatorade is a big time company that has increased its involvement beyond its basic need, hydration; its sports science institution has made them become the leader of innovation in sports nutrition and performance; their promotion of women in their advertisements has led the way in the fight against the discrepancy of men and women in sports, and their involvement internationality because of sports itself has made their brand personality and recognition remarkably recognizable. Gatorade has become more then just a sports drink it has become part of sports itself its championship culture and continuous innovation has made them a staple in business and leaders of the pack. I leave with this final note, Gatorade, is it in you?
