NEW YORK: Gatorade, the sports drink owned by PepsiCo, is pursuing a more "authentic" approach to celebrity endorsement to engage its core target audience.
Speaking with Forbes, Kate Denton, Gatorade's director of marketing, suggested that, having collected consumer insights for 40 years, it appears a profitable demographic is now rapidly emerging.
"What we've discovered is that there's a whole new breed of athlete, who we're calling the 'fitness athlete'," she said.
Individuals within this group regularly work out, may be training for races, and have unique requirements before, during and following exercise.
"Their body has athletic body needs, and those needs are currently not being met by any one company," said Denton.
Responding to this trend, Gatorade is launching the G Series Fit range, incorporating offerings like Prime "energy bites", the Perform drink and Recover fruit smoothie.
Thanks to its in-depth knowledge of the preferences displayed by these sports enthusiasts, securing in-house support behind such a strategy becomes comparatively simplistic.
"When we focus on the athletes … and stay true to delivering against their needs, the conversation is really quite easy," Denton said.
"You understand that 'fitness athletes' want to eat their calories before their workout, versus drink their calories."
"You understand their behaviour. If they're going on long runs, they don't want to have anything sloshing around in their stomach. Or they want to customise how much they are consuming."
As with many products in this category, the backing of well-known advocates plays a key role in gaining the attention of possible buyers.
"What they want to see is people that are more like them: people that are in training, people that are working out in a gym environment or going for a run outside," said Denton.
"So we've hired a whole new roster of athletes to represent G Series Fit, and we'll be showcasing them in different training environments."
This includes surfer Coco Ho, runner Allyson Felix, swimmer Ryan Lochte, goalkeeper Tim Howard and Lauren Froderman, winner of reality series So You Think You Can Dance?
"I think we're blessed in that the athletes that we use authentically use our products," said Denton.
Indeed, this not only adds a degree of cachet to G Series Fit, but also ensures that endorsers effectively promote the brand.
Denton continued: "The first question that we ask any athlete when either we approach them or they approach us is 'Do you use Gatorade today'?"
"If the answer is 'No', then we ask them to start using it and then come back and talk to us after they've used it for a period of time."
Developing a marketing model based on such a genuine relationship has a variety of benefits, she added.
"Authenticity is so important, and what makes it easy both for the athlete to talk about the brand, but also for us to help fuel and understand how we can help them improve their performance in their chosen sport," concluded Denton.
Speaking with Forbes, Kate Denton, Gatorade's director of marketing, suggested that, having collected consumer insights for 40 years, it appears a profitable demographic is now rapidly emerging.
"What we've discovered is that there's a whole new breed of athlete, who we're calling the 'fitness athlete'," she said.
Individuals within this group regularly work out, may be training for races, and have unique requirements before, during and following exercise.
"Their body has athletic body needs, and those needs are currently not being met by any one company," said Denton.
Responding to this trend, Gatorade is launching the G Series Fit range, incorporating offerings like Prime "energy bites", the Perform drink and Recover fruit smoothie.
Thanks to its in-depth knowledge of the preferences displayed by these sports enthusiasts, securing in-house support behind such a strategy becomes comparatively simplistic.
"When we focus on the athletes … and stay true to delivering against their needs, the conversation is really quite easy," Denton said.
"You understand that 'fitness athletes' want to eat their calories before their workout, versus drink their calories."
"You understand their behaviour. If they're going on long runs, they don't want to have anything sloshing around in their stomach. Or they want to customise how much they are consuming."
As with many products in this category, the backing of well-known advocates plays a key role in gaining the attention of possible buyers.
"What they want to see is people that are more like them: people that are in training, people that are working out in a gym environment or going for a run outside," said Denton.
"So we've hired a whole new roster of athletes to represent G Series Fit, and we'll be showcasing them in different training environments."
This includes surfer Coco Ho, runner Allyson Felix, swimmer Ryan Lochte, goalkeeper Tim Howard and Lauren Froderman, winner of reality series So You Think You Can Dance?
"I think we're blessed in that the athletes that we use authentically use our products," said Denton.
Indeed, this not only adds a degree of cachet to G Series Fit, but also ensures that endorsers effectively promote the brand.
Denton continued: "The first question that we ask any athlete when either we approach them or they approach us is 'Do you use Gatorade today'?"
"If the answer is 'No', then we ask them to start using it and then come back and talk to us after they've used it for a period of time."
Developing a marketing model based on such a genuine relationship has a variety of benefits, she added.
"Authenticity is so important, and what makes it easy both for the athlete to talk about the brand, but also for us to help fuel and understand how we can help them improve their performance in their chosen sport," concluded Denton.
Data sourced from Forbes; additional content by Warc staff
