Powerade Continues March Madness Underdog Commercials

Powerade continues its underdog status with another March Madness #PowerThrough campaign

Have you seen the latest Powerade commercial?  It doesn’t explicitly say it’s for March Madness (which they did with their Coke Zero March Madness Campaign), but it’s still the same underlying message, and they are releasing this right when March Madness started.  It seems that I was wrong after only seeing a Coke Zero commercial for March Madness this year.  Coca-Cola is not only leveraging from a position of strength with their zero-calorie soft drink, but also continuing to capitalize on their underdog status with their sports drinks.  Why is there a need to also release a commercial and reminder for Powerade during March Madness, especially since they have already done an ad spot for Coke Zero?  Won’t this be conflicting, and hurt their overall business?

In the spirit of continuing their March Madness underdog theme, releasing a commercial that celebrates and glorifies the little guy is the right thing to do.  Consider also the tweets the Powerade account sent out to support the Harvard Crimson basketball team which won its first NCAA game over New Mexico.  Consider also the Sweet 16 round still involved three double-digit-ranking basketball schools in this year’s do-or-die tournament: Florida Gulf Coast University, Oregon, and La Salle.  Even the Final Four include Wichita State, which is the ninth-ranked seed for the West region.

Here’s the Powerade commercial below:

While the Coke Zero commercial focuses on the spectator, Powerade caters to the athlete.  A different target market, a different user.  That alone should imply minimal cannibalization since these are two different groups of people.  By implementing a dual brand strategy this year – instead of switching the focus to a broader audience base as I had previously believed – Coca-Cola is increasing their investment and support behind this event.  Although this should not hurt their business, there is minimal cross-benefit since these are two different beverage segment  and two different buyers.  In actuality, Coke Zero may simply be a blocking tactic to keep competitive soda messaging from dominating the tv screens during the tournament, and Powerade may be a investmentt tactic for their college messaging to show their collegiate athlete support.

At the very root of this commercial is Powerade’s message that they are still the underdog and they dare you to doubt them.  Which ultimately implies that Powerade may have some plans this year to trim Gatorade’s share leadership beyond March Madness.  Keep on the lookout for more Powerade activity.

Coke Zero Targets Men For 2013 March Madness

Have you seen the latest Coke Zero commercial?  If not, click on the link below, also found from Advertising Age’s article detailing Coke Zero’s new advertising agency, Droga5.

Unlike last year’s Powerade commercial, this year’s March Madness commercial by Coca-Cola features Coke Zero.  The question is why focus on a soda rather than the sports drink?

Inherently, the message and audience is geared toward a completely different type of beverage consumer.  The Powerade commercial was a signal to Gatorade that Powerade realizes that they are the underdogs in the sports drink segment, and they must work harder in order to compete with the sports drink giant.  It was targeted toward the athlete.  This year’s March Madness commercial broadens the reach by focusing on men, not just athletes in particular.

An office worker drinks a Coke Zero to confirm it’s not his fault he’s working on the March Madness brackets during work time. From creativity-online.com.

Coke Zero wants to identify with the spectators, not just the athletes.  The message is that even the casual sports fan can enjoy everything and participate in March Madness by drinking Coke Zero and picking the winners.  The change in Coke Zero’s focus is understandable, given that CSDs (carbonated soft drinks) are a larger segment than sports drinks and offers greater sales potential.  Also, why would you fight from the position of an underdog (Powerade) when you can  fight from a position of strength, and build on your leadership (Coke Zero leads zero-calorie CSD market)?

Keeping in line with Coca-Cola’s theme on focusing on the intangibles, there is no mention of calories.  Notice how Coca-Cola’s tagline is “Open Happiness” and Diet Coke’s tagline is “Stay Extraordinary”?  There is no focus on tangible attributes, and tries to position the beverage as a lifestyle choice.  For Coke Zero, men do not want to be reminded that they can “Enjoy Everything” by consuming a beverage without any calories.  The less the messaging focuses on calories (and more on sports or happiness), the better it should perform.

All in all, the winning potential is great, and offers them the ability to leverage themselves from a position of strength.  Smart move to switch the focal point from athlete to casual fan and spectator.

Will You Sing For a Free Coke?

We’ve seen YouTube videos of Coca-Cola offering you a free coke by doing different things like hugging and dancing with the vending machine in the past.  Most recently we’ve even seen a video where thirsty consumers are told to accept a James Bond-like mission to get a free bottle of pop.  Now they have asked you to sing for a free Coca-Cola.  See the video below where students in Sweden sing karaoke to a Coca-Cola vending machine during the holidays.

The question is, why is Coca-Cola offering so many drinks for free?  What do they get out of giving away so many bottles of Coca-Cola?  Aside from the free media and overall feel-good behavior that these activities generate, it falls right in line with their tagline “Open Happiness”.  Notice that all these events take place in a collectivistic setting where many people gather together (school, train station, mall), so it can bring enjoyment to everyone.  The fact that these activities are recorded allows for online sharing indicate that it can bring even more joy for those that cannot immediately participate.  These vending machine videos entrenches the message that every time you are consuming a Coca-Cola beverage, you are feeling gratification.  It is also accepted by society since everyone else is smiling and feeling the same way you are.

What is also curious to note is that all these initiatives originated in Europe and Asia.  Will these media-generating activities happen in Canada and the United States?  From a business standpoint, maybe in the United States more than in Canada.  Vending machines typically don’t offer a strong investment return unless it is in a high traffic area and Canada does not have too many high traffic locations.  Consider this similar to the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, where they are more easily found in the U.S. than here.  These units must be placed in high traffic and high visibility locations in order to generate enough sales and/or media buzz.  And culture-wise, North American culture celebrates individualism more than collectivism.  That also play a role in determining whether these types of activities are imported.  While hugging, dancing, or singing are not culture-specific, the setting in which these activities take place are.  Singing and dancing in public are much less common here than in Europe.  People may also be less likely to do these things in public for fear of embarrassment.

This means that though the message of “Open Happiness” stays the same in North America as in Europe or Asia, the communication to deliver this message is different everywhere.  In the meantime, we can always look forward to these types of social engagement activities on the web.

Coke Zero: Unlock The 007 in You

Coke Zero has recently launched a video on YouTube in support of the upcoming James Bond 007 Skyfall movie.  Their claim to “Unlock The 007 in You” follows consumers in a Belgian train station looking to purchase Coke Zero and having to beat a series of obstacles in order to get free theater passes to watch Skyfall.  It looks to be a successful commercial, but why did it work so well?

First of all, readers and viewers should understand that this is in fact a commercial, not a viral video.  The liability of such an event inside a train station to have just about any regular consumer try this would be significant – given all the obstacles that the “Bond player” would have to complete.  And are all thirst-quenchers in Belgium male, or are the women not interested in completing this 007 challenge?  What about all the camera angles that show how the player tries to complete these challenges – there would definitely be a need for more than one camera, and certainly not security video.  So while this Coke Zero effort has generated a lot of interest and attention, remember that it is scripted and fictional (just like James Bond) and not real-life.  What it does offer is a chance for someone live like James Bond for a brief moment in their real life.

Now on to review the commercial.

The commercial’s success is purely rooted in its ability to build consumer interest and follow through on the challenge to get free Skyfall passes after getting their beverage.  First of all, a touch screen vending machine that asks men to enter your name and then offering you a chance to win a free pop is truly attention grabbing.  The first stimulant is the male consumer wanting to quench their thirst with a Coke Zero and approaching the vending machine.  While Canada and U.S. does not have touch screen vending machines, I’m not too sure what European vending machines look like so the touch screen itself may not be attention grabbing.  What is of note is the interaction between consumer (now a paying customer) and vending machine – when it offers you a chance to win free movie tickets.

This opportunity to win tickets is the hook and follow through for the customer.  The customer at this point must decide whether he wants to participate since he still has the chance to opt out.    Note how there was one customer that opted to not participate (around 0:15 sec)?  However, being in a society where “Free” changes behavior, how could most customers resist when being offered extra value for what they have just paid for?  It is akin to “Buy One Get One Free” or “Spend $10 Get Free X” offers.  Next, the customer accepts the challenge and must commit to finishing in time to win the tickets.

On the commitment aspect, the customer must complete the machine’s request to get the offer.  So he starts racing through the train station – under a time limitation and obstacles created by Coke Zero.  All this racing around in the train station is the so-called “James Bond experience” where the participant is unlocking their inner secret agent as they overcome obstacles and beat the clock.  As they reach their final destination, they find one additional challenge to link fiction with real-life.  By this time they has amassed a following of interested bystanders (most are paid actors – sorry for spoiling it if you have not seen the video) that goad the participant along.  And once this last challenge is completed – celebration ensues.

While this commercial is more fiction than real-life, it hammers home the point that the customer is willing to go to extreme measures to get yourself a Coke Zero.  And it beautifully ties in with the James Bond Skyfall movie with all the “extreme measures” implied during the participant experience.  Do you agree? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Mid-Calorie Sodas – Successful or Not?

It’s been over a year that Pepsi Next has first launched in test markets, and almost six months since it’s been available nationally in the United States.  Dr Pepper 10 will also soon be lapping it’s one year national launch in the market place.  These national launches proves that Pepsi and Dr Pepper both believe in the viability of the mid-calorie cola segment.  However, what are the results of this launch, and can it be considered a success so far?

For Pepsi Next, results so far can be considered average at best.   Wall Street Journal reported the Next to have gained 1% market share on US dollars (link here), although product reviews indicate that the aftertaste (end part of the Pepsi Next’s taste curve) is unpleasant and definitely feels like the artificial sweeteners (link here).  In spite of all this, Pepsi has launched two (limited for the summer) line extensions of the mid-calorie soft drink: Paradise Mango and Cherry Vanilla (pictured above).  That said, the launch can be considered a success so far, but the real test is converting these initial trail users into returning customers.

The line extensions and the continued advertising support for Pepsi Next would be much needed in order to help the brand sustain its momentum.  After all, it takes some time for a product to be accepted in the market – remember that it took Coke Zero & Pepsi Max a few years and some trying rebranding and repackaging before it caught on with consumers?  Beyond that, let’s hope for more products to enter the mid-calorie segment, and bring more attention to the category.

For Dr Pepper 10, test results have been similar to Pepsi Next.  On the Dr Pepper 10 alone, sales nationally have been strong enough to offset the declines across Sun Drop and 7UP.  And as the one year anniversary  for Dr Pepper 10 approaches, they have already worked on releasing five additional 10 calories colas.  The 7UP 10, A&W 10, Canada Dry 10, SunKist 10, and RC 10 are currently in test markets and some of these flavors should make it national (my bet is on the 7UP, A&W, and Canada Dry).

Overall, it would appear that there are two main players in the mid-calorie segment right now between Pepsi Next and Dr Pepper 10.  Coca-Cola has been reported to be trying a mid-calorie version of Sprite and Fanta in key test markets as well.  This segment will only continue to grow as consumers become more and more health conscious.  However, in order to make it a success, the main issue of taste must be addressed, since consumers likely wouldn’t sacrifice taste for calories.

And beyond that, let’s hope it makes it way up north to Canada so we don’t have to drive across the border to find some mid calorie beverages.

vitaminwater zero Quietly Arrives in Canada

Has anyone noticed the subtle changes to the low-calorie vitaminwater lineup in Canada?  There used to be three vitaminwater10 variants available: go-go, resilient-c, and recoup.  Now they have quietly replaced the go-go and resilient-c 10 calorie offerings with zero calorie offerings.  The recoup (peach mandarin) doesn’t appear to be on the market anymore, in favor of a zero calorie version of XXX, renamed as XOXOXO (acai-blueberry-pomegranate).  It appears that the United States’ transition in December 2010 has finally made its way north of the border this past April.  As it stands right now, there are 9 regular calorie flavors of vitaminwater, along with the three new low-calorie offerings.

One has to wonder why glaceau did not simply launch the zero-calorie offerings from day one, rather than wait a year to eliminate the 10 calories inside the bottle.  How did the 10 calories get eliminated after a few months’ launch into Canada?  Was it fear that Canadians would not adapt to the zero calories right away and needed to be transitioned away from calorie-filled beverages?  Was there a delay in getting approvals on the ingredients, particularly the sweetener?  In any case, the complete Canadian vitaminwater line-up still stands at 12 flavors.

Having 12 flavors makes it challenging to manage the product portfolio.  The benefit of this vitaminwater zero transition is that it will not impact the overall shelf spacing – only the existing area that vitaminwater product occupies.  However, 12 flavors for any product is quite significant, and getting a retailer to list all 12 at the same time will certainly be difficult.  Take for example Red Bull, which has found success with only three variations (Red Bull, Sugar Free Red Bull, and Red Bull Total Zero).  Or Coca-Cola, which also has three offerings (Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero).  Both these brands have fewer flavors and have been very successful.  Monster Energy and Rockstar Energy are also successful as a result of their broad portfolio of products – but not all products get listed in the retailer.  The most successful brands have fewer variations and can command more shelf space.  They also tend to be leaders in their respective categories.  vitaminwater seems to be buck that trend.

Is vitaminwater a leader in the enhanced or flavored waters category?  Sales data would almost guarantee it as such.  Why would they need so many flavors, when traditionally four or five flavors will be enough?  The answer is portfolio shelf space relative to sales.  If the vitaminwater portfolio commands 40% of the category sales, they should be allocated 40% shelf space.  After all, the argument is that the cooler space should reflect market conditions for the consumer.  This is why in the summer there are less shelf space allocated to juices, but more to water and sports drinks.  Having a broader portfolios always gives you more opportunities to create shelf space and in turn sales.  Just look at how Gatorade has been able to gain more shelf space following its prime/perform/recover extensions.  So while the majority of sales may come from the most popular flavors, the less popular flavors also have a significant role to play in creating and extending shelf space for the vitaminwater total portfolio.  Imagine that the sale for one vitaminwater flavor was marginal relative to the total portfolio, but had two shelf facings.  That flavor still remains on shelf to “hold space” for other better performing flavors, and allow the retailer to reduce that flavor to one facing while increasing facings for another better performing flavor.

Optimizing the shelf space ultimately falls onto the beverage category manager’s responsibility.  As long as vitaminwater’s broad portfolio keeps making sales, it makes difficult for other enhanced waters like Aquafina Plus to gain shelf space.  Once you secure the shelf space, it’s up to you to structure and space out your products to protect your shelf space.