IT USED TO BE THAT IF YOU wanted to stock a sports drink, you had one or two choices: you had your Gatorade, your POWERade, and that was about it. As the category grew, you’d do whatever you could to keep that single cooler door stocked with the Gatorade, and you’d try to force the issue with your Coke distributor in order to get the best deal in exchange for taking on the number-two POWERade.
But things are starting to change in the Sports Drink category – not in terms of major share of volume, but in an emerging set of subcategories that seems to be re-defining the way a shelf-set can be constructed, and one that is stretching the definition of the sports drink all the way from the drugstore to the dairy aisle.
With protein drinks like Muscle Milk providing some of the muscle recovery elements that gym rats once extracted from tubs of whey powder, and coconut waters like Zico, O.N.E. and Vita Coco moving into the realms of the “Yoga Mom” and the intense ultramarathoner and triathlete, the category is developing more breadth. It’s even getting dehydrated a bit, as different product types are moving into the “stick pack” mixable formulation, both from the perspective of start-up PURESPORT and granddaddy Gatorade, which has even moved its fast-growing G2 formula into a pouch.
What’s happening is that athletes and casual sports drink users are beginning to think about what product fits their lifestyle, opening the door to functionality not just as an idea separate from hydration, but one that is incorporated into it. The idea is that one size doesn’t fit all anymore.
“We don’t really consider it a sports drink per se,” said Lee Labrada, a retired champion bodybuilder who is finding growing success with a protein drink called Lean Body on the Go. “It’s protein, and it’s in a category of its own. But it does address some of the big demographic factors that used to attract the Gatorade drinker.”
Part of the reason why a sports drink customer might turn to a product like Lean Body is that the science in the sports recovery field continues to evolve, with more weight being given to the notion that protein can help aid in fluid replacement. Yet another recent study indicated the efficacy of chocolate milk as a post-workout recovery drink, for example, and that notion may bring products like Accelerade back into the fold at some point. Meanwhile, the level of expertise of the athletes themselves is broadening, so that they are able to distinguish the level of caloric intensity that they want, from lower-calorie products like G2 and owater to the protein fortified.
Adding to the idea that functionality is growing to match the importance of fluid replacement is the variety of the product offerings. WheyUp has mixed protein and caffeine together into a potent gym cocktail, while even Gatorade has added the concentration-enhancing compound L-Theanine to its Gatorade Tiger line.
Gatorade is an interesting test case for where the category is headed, in fact: in the past few years it has diversified into a number of lower-calorie offerings, added other compounds and, in the end, lost some sales as the economy has nosedived and consumers have migrated to other categories. It might seem like the brand is expanding – yet it’s also fighting for share. While other companies move in all-natural directions and look at the expanding variety of ways in which consumers seek to prepare and recover from their exertions, the company has rebranded itself with the ever-pervasive “G” symbol, taken a strong legal stand when its integrity was attacked in advertisements from Powerade, and watched as vitaminwater cups appeared in the hands of players and coaches at the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
While that’s still a long way from seeing a bucket of Muscle Milk overturned on a coach’s head after the Super Bowl, it’s enough to maybe think that customers would appreciate a little variety next to – not in place of – the big Gatorade door.