Vitaminwater takes a shot at Gatorade
Glaceau, the makers of Vitaminwater, will be unveiling a new subline called Perform. Company officials say the drink will have more total electrolytes than Gatorade in the form of calcium, magnesium and potassium, but the drink will not have the sodium that is found in Gatorade. In a massive marketing blitz aimed to get the message out, Glaceau has signed 20 players on 20 Major League Baseball teams, including Kerry Wood, Jim Thome, Kevin Millar and Torii Hunter.
Although Gatorade has its own line of sports water, Propel, I've found that Vitaminwater is gaining relevance at sporting events. Glaceau is now extremely powerful, selling more than 250 million bottles of flavored water per year. The product is being pushed by well-known sports marketer Rohan Oza, who worked for Sprite and POWERade during a stint at Coca-Cola.
The strategy of signing individual players is certainly different. Gatorade's strategy is to sign official relationships with leagues, although it does have relationships with 21 athletes across all sports. Gatorade is the official sports drink of Major League Baseball, but with this deal Glaceau has established a partnership with the MLB Players' Association. That means that Glaceau can sign the players, but it can't have the players appear in ads wearing their official MLB uniforms.