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Powerade

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For the hockey arena, see Powerade Centre.
POWERade
TypeNutrient-Enhanced Sports Drink Beverage
ManufacturerThe Coca-Cola Company with creative control under Glacéau.
Country of origin United States
Introduced1988
Websitewww.us.powerade.com Edit this on Wikidata

Powerade is a sports drink manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. First introduced in 1988, its primary competitor is PepsiCo's Gatorade. As of December 2008, Powerade has grown to take 21.7 percent of the United States market in its category, compared to Gatorade's 77.2 percent.[1]

History

In 1990, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Great Olympics alongside Aquarius, another sports drink made by Coca-Cola. It is a rival of other sports drink "Gatorade." [2] In July 2001, Coca-Cola Company launched a new formula for Powerade including vitamins B3, B6 and B12, which play a role in energy metabolism.

In July 2005, the Coca-Cola Company updated the bottles of the standard PowerAde (previous logo styling) to a new sport-grip bottle.

In 2005, Coca-Cola Company introduced Powerade Option to the United States, in response to Gatorade's popular Propel. Option is a "low Calorie sports drink" that is colorless and sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium, to provide sugar-conscious consumers with another rehydration choice. Powerade Option took 36% of the Fitness Water category behind Propel's 42%.

In 2008, Powerade Zero, a zero-calorie sports drink with electrolytes and no carbohydrates was released.[3] Powerade Option was subsequently discontinued.

In 2009, Powerade was relaunched as Powerade ION4, a formulation that contains four key electrolytes in the same ratio that is typically lost in sweat.[4]. PepsiCo sued the Coca-Cola Company, after ads were released claiming that Gatorade was an incomplete sports drink, since it only contained two of the four key electrolytes. The presiding judge ruled in favor of Coca-Cola, for a number of reasons: the ads were no longer running, Gatorade had made similar claims about their Endurance line, and Pepsi failed to show any harm or damage caused by the ads, which were only designed to run for sixty days.[5]

In late 2009 or early 2010, Coca-Cola will expand the Powerade Zero line with two new flavors - lemon-lime and orange.yay!! Also planned is a mid-calorie youth formula in 12 ounce bottles.

In June 2007, Coca-Cola Company bought Glacéau, owner of brands such as VitaminWater and SmartWater, for $4.1 billion, a price tag that signaled the company’s seriousness in pursuing growth of non-carbonated beverages. Since then, the company has also given its Glacéau management team control of its Powerade sports drink brand, which competes directly with Gatorade.

Flavors

Currently, there are eight flavors of Powerade available in the United States:[6]

  • Grape (also released for a limited time as NASCAR Grape)
  • Orange
  • Lemon Lime
  • Sour Melon
  • Fruit Punch
  • Mountain Berry Blast (Previously known as Mountain Blast)
  • White Cherry (Previously known as Arctic Shatter)
  • Strawberry Lemonade

In addition, there are also five flavors of Powerade Zero:[7]

  • Mixed Berry
  • Grape
  • Strawberry
  • Lemon Lime
  • Orange


Flavors that were previously available in the United States, but have been discontinued:

  • Tidal Burst
  • Orange Tangerine
  • Dark Downburst[8]
  • Jagged Ice
  • Infrared Freeze
  • Green Squall
  • Mango
  • Flava 23 Sour Berry (developed in conjunction with LeBron James)
  • Flava 23 Sour Melon (developed in conjunction with LeBron James)
  • Gold Medal (released to promote the 2004 Summer Olympics)
  • Matrix Reloaded (released in conjunction with the movie in 2003, and later re-released as a regular Powerade flavor, Black Cherry Lime)
  • NHRA
  • Light Andean Chill (low-calorie)
  • Light Aleutian Stream (low-calorie)
  • Option Grape
  • Option Lemons
  • Option Strawberry
  • Option Black Cherry
  • Psych (sports-energy drink hybrid)
  • Raize (sports-energy drink hybrid)
  • Advance Berry (sports-energy drink hybrid)
  • Advance Cherry Lime (sports-energy drink hybrid)

Ingredients

Template:Infobox nutrition facts

Ingredients:[9]

Note: Standard 8 ounce servings meet the FDA definition of 'low sodium' and have less sodium than a glass of chocolate milk. [10]

Substitutions and Differences

Ingredients may vary from flavor to flavor and by country with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) not used in Australasia and other regions where sucrose is substituted.

Competition

Powerade's main competition is Gatorade marketed by the Quaker Oats Company, a division of PepsiCo. Gatorade was developed at the University of Florida in 1965, and was the originator of the sports drink market. They still hold a commanding share of the market today.

Kool-Aid also holds a fair share of potential sports drink consumers. CeraSport made by Cera Products Inc. is a non-glucose, rice-based oral rehydration and performance drink. All Sport is a competitor marketed by Big Red, Inc and distributed by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. All Sport was marketed by PepsiCo until 2001, when Gatorade's maker, the Quaker Oats Company was acquired by PepsiCo. All Sport was sold off to the Monarch Beverage Company soon after. It has subsequently been purchased by Gary Smith who is currently the Chairman & CEO of All Sport, Inc. based in Austin, Texas

Outside the United States the Lucozade energy drink (manufactured since 1927 by the pharmaceutical company now known as GlaxoSmithKline) competes with Gatorade. Lucozade's formulation differs in that it uses primarily glucose and contains caffeine. The more direct competitor to Gatorade and Powerade is Lucozade Sport.

Criticism

Like its main competitor, Gatorade, Powerade is made with sugar syrups and salt.[11] One Powerade ad campaign saying that Powerade ION4 is superior to Gatorade has been accused of being deceptive and false by Pepsi, the parent maker of Gatorade.[12] The courts ruled in favor of Powerade as of Aug 2009. [13]

Sponsorships

  • Powerade is the official sports drink of the Australian, New Zealand, Ireland and England rugby teams, the AFL, PGA Tour, NASCAR, NHRA, NCAA, the U.S. Olympic Team (excluding U.S.A. Basketball and U.S. Soccer, which have deals with Gatorade) and many other national Olympic federations, The Football League[14] and many other soccer leagues and teams around the world, FIFA, and the IOC in no small part due to their overall contracts with Coca-Cola. Various other competitions also have sponsorship deals with the brand, although Gatorade historically has secured the lion's share of sponsorships. The drink is also Sponsor of the Honduran Soccer Team C.D. Olimpia.
  • The brand is also the exclusive beverage sponsor of the Hoops in the Sun basketball summer league, based out at Orchard Beach in the Bronx, New York. It is the only summer basketball league to be sponsored by the brand.

References

  1. ^ Pepsi Suing Coca-Cola over Powerade Ads, The Huffington Post, April 14, 2009
  2. ^ Coca-Cola english - Productos
  3. ^ Powerade's zero-calorie sports drink takes on Gatorade, USA Today, May 6, 2008
  4. ^ Event Marketer: Powerade Pitches New Formula With Sports Challenge, April 22, 2009
  5. ^ Adweek: How Powerade Downed Gatorade in Court, August 6, 2009
  6. ^ Powerade: US website
  7. ^ Powerade Zero: US website
  8. ^ Coke Juices Up PowerAde In-Store, Media - Coca Cola Co. advertises sports drink - Statistical Data Included, Brandweek, November 9, 1998
  9. ^ Powerade - The BevNET.com Review
  10. ^ ABC News: Sports Drinks: Winners and Losers
  11. ^ Critics Say Soda Policy for Schools Lacks Teeth - New York Times
  12. ^ CNN.com - Transcripts
  13. ^ - Transcripts
  14. ^ COMMERCIAL PARTNERS | The Football League | Commercial | Commercial Partners
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