So one day at an elementary school, a 5th grader on his way to the bus trips a 2nd grader, making him fall down, and proceeds to make fun of the Christmas sweater his grandma gave him. The 5th grader’s opinion of the sweater is completely warranted (after all, who wants to wear a sweater with Frosty on it?), but of course, he could have either kept his opinion to himself or made it public in a much nicer way. The 2nd grader takes offense and walks away crying, going to “tattle” on the 5th grader to Ms. Daisy because he knows that he can’t handle the bully himself, and he’s scared.
Frosty Sweater = Smackdown
This, my friends, is exactly what has taken place between Gatorade and Powerade. Gatorade is the 2nd grader and Powerade is the 5th grader.
Background Information. Recently, Powerade has unleashed a marketing campaign attempting to take Gatorade’s legs out from under itself. The ads revolve around the idea of Gatorade being an “incomplete” sports drink because it lacks some of the electrolytes that Powerade has (or something like that). This has resulted in billboards showing half of a Gatorade bottle and even the cover of ESPN The Magazine, which had half of a gatorade bottle on the cover, with a 2 page spread of powerade on the inside.
Manny Being Manny and Powerade Being...Mean
So I’d like to first say that although this took some “cojones,” I typically don’t think that comparing your product to your competitors is the best marketing strategy. In a way, by using a comparison like this, you are admitting that the other product is perceived as superior by the public. Especially in this instance, where Gatorade is the category leader (I’d imagine by quite a bit), I think Powerade would be better off trying to differentiate itself from Gatorade and own a different part of the consumer’s mind (kind of like how Apple has gone for the sleek, hip perception to take on Microsoft). Basically, Powerade is trying to say “we’re better than Gatorade,” and even with the facts they present, that’s a hard sell to consumers.
Gatorade’s Response
Gatorade, like the 2nd grader, pretty much didn’t like Powerade’s tactics and is now filing suit against Powerade for false advertising (thanks to Brittany (@BrittanyLane on Twitter) from Sports Media Challenge for the link to the article!).
If you ask me, Gatorade made a boo boo here. Back to my analogy, if a 2nd grader (or in this case, the weaker product) tried to trip up and make fun of a 5th grader, one of two things would happen. Either the 5th grader would carry on with his business because in reality the 2nd grader poses no real threat, or he’d decide to assert his power, beat the 2nd grader at his own game, and lay the smackdown on him. Let me bring this back around for you…
By “tattling” on Powerade, Gatorade is really implying that they’re scared of Powerade, which to me, as the consumer, gives the ads more credibility. I’d argue that Gatorade should either fire back through advertisements or just ignore Powerade because it’s really not a big threat to Gatorade’s brand.
Take Microsoft, for example. Apple’s ads are obviously very similar to those of Powerade’s (but in my mind, much, much better). Microsoft has responded through its ads, not through the courts and, whether or not you like any of Microsoft’s ads, you must admit that had Microsoft taken Apple to court, it would have simply vindicated the statements Apple was making.
So, hopefully you followed my analogy, but the summary is, Gatorade should have responded in a different manner. And that’s all I have to say about that.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with you except for the fact that if Gatorade’s science claim is legit (that Powerade doesn’t have a signifigant amount of the other 2 electrolytes to make any difference) than Powerade has in fact broken the law. False advertising and false claims of product benefits are just as harmful to consumers as they are competitors. I agree that Gatorade should fire back with their own witty advertising to use their position as category leader and assert their dominance, but if the claim is a legitimate false advertising claim they owe it to the consumers in the category to hold Powerade (and their agency) responsible for false advertising.
Good point Tony, I guess I didn’t even address the legality issue. I agree that if proven to be false advertising, Powerade will lose a LOT of credibility with consumers, which would most likely be detrimental to their brand.