Golf and Gatorade

Kyle Qualizza English 104 2/8/10 Gatorade One of the most dominating keys in today’s business world can easily be seen through the Gatorade Company. Their products have become extremely popular to the world, keeping their competition in the dust. Ordinary businesses struggle to retain their name on the board with this eminent company in the way, and for obvious reasons: excellent advertisement. Forty-five years have passed since the creation of this ultimate athletic drink, and Gatorade still continues to flourish. The product itself has a legendary story behind it. Many say that the University of Florida first noticed that all of their athletes could not perform to their highest skill level due to dehydration. Both professors and coaches decided to come together and find a solution to this problem. After multiple trial and error labs were performed, they finally broke through with an unbelievable item. They found something that would do more than just replenish fluids. It supplied the body with a plentiful amount of electrolytes, a task that water cannot complete (Gatorade History). With electrolytes, this beverage provided the Florida Gator football players with both energy and awareness to perform at their peak. This break-through proves to be one of the largest in sports technology today. Now that they came up with a product, the next most important topic to discuss was advertisement. They needed to know exactly how to market this product. When Gatorade first came out, the advertisements displayed to its viewers how the efficiency level rises when you use their particular item for consumption. One of the keys to effectively advertising can be seen through repetition. Gatorade utilizes this tool through the three â€Å"R’s†: rehydrate, replenish, and refuel that marks each bottle (Gatorade). Now that Gatorade’s popularity began to rise, they wanted to expand their product across the world. The company started casting commercials with professional athletes who drank their product. This allowed the fans to build a connection with their favorite professional players. This approach proved to be extremely successful. People believe that if they drink Gatorade, that they are more like this socially accepted superstar. Not to mention, people gain a personal type of self-confidence that they too will dominant a sport if they drink like the professionals. Recent commercials involving Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, and Michael Phelps reinforced this style of advertisement. However, by advertising certain people, expectations have to be met or sales will decrease. The best example for this circumstance happened about a month ago. Tiger Woods, golf legend, had his own style of Gatorade made specifically for him. Woods always took on this picture-perfect image as the best golfer and great role model, always supported by his loving wife and family. Gatorade saw this as an opportunity to make a great deal of money by advertising his name and face on their product. At first, the athletic drink was a huge hit. He improved his golf swing and began winning every tournament he entered, leaving sales at an all time high. Gatorade continued to sell this beverage because of his high performance, until he slipped up. Everything was based on his performance on the golf course until he finally slipped up. What people didn’t see was his at-home life. Woods raced out of his house in his SUV and crashed into a tree. At first, many believed he fell asleep behind the wheel. However, after digging deeper, the police discovered Woods actually had been running from his wife, Elin, in order to be with other women. Tiger cheated on his wife with nine other women. This disturbing news came to the public, leaving them shocked and full of questions. His perfect image crumbled. Gatorade no longer wanted to use Tiger in their advertisement because of his tainted image. The Tiger Woods series took on an extreme blow. Not only did the sales drop astronomically, but the company itself faced the condescending public’s eye because they once supported him. The Gatorade Company had no other option but to discontinue the Tiger Woods series. (Original bottle) Also, another factor to consider is the design of the bottle. In 1985, the beverage’s marketing looked extremely bland. There was no vibrancy to the product which did not catch the buyer’s eye. The Gatorade Company took notice. As the product continued to become more advanced, so did the advertising. Within the forty -five years, Gatorade has changed their image significantly. Their newest of bottles being decorated with extremely bright, bold colors and features. The label of the product now â€Å"pops† to the buyers. Furthermore, there are inspirational sayings along the side of the drink. In addition, the color of the actual fluid is different with every type of flavor. All together, the advertising makes for a very balanced and animated item. In today’s society everything is now viewed on health and body image. Gatorade has taken their product to the next level by lowering the calorie per bottle and allowing anyone on any diet to consume their beverage. It is the revolutionized way of the food market. All in all, the advertising action of Gatorade has played a huge role in their production. Without the color balance or vibrancy of the label the product wouldn’t be noticed. And, without the inspirational commercials, the drink wouldn’t be as seen as such a highly marked item. However, since the Gatorade Company has taken time to fully understand this side of marketing, their results are booming. Work Cited Decision News Media SAS, â€Å"Gatorade to expand advertising†. Ethical Naturals, Inc.. 2/8/10 . * Gatorade, â€Å"Gatorade History†. Pepsi. 2/8/10 . * Hein, Kenneth. â€Å"How Powerade Downed Gatorade in Court†. Adweek 8/6/09: 1-2 * . * Neilsen, â€Å"Gatorade†. Marketwire 12/28/08: 1-3. * Robinson, Allen. â€Å"Gatorade Analysis†. Gatorade . 2/8/10 .