Pepsi hopes to score big with Diet Gatorade

by Patrice Sarath, July 27th, 2007, 7:02 am

My daughter had to undergo withdrawal last week while at the AAU Junior Olympic Inline Hockey Games in Taylor, Mich.

No Gatorade.

Well, there was Powerade, an apparently inferior drink made by Coke.  (Note to Coke: please take notice of the word apparently in the preceding opinion, which is not held by me, but by a seventeen-year-old. Don’t sue.) She further stated that Powerade “tasted like it clumped in my throat.” (Again, Coke: it’s a quote. It’s not me.) She also made some other comments, but I told her not to use that language and we bought Dasani bottled water for the rest of her games. (Satisfied, Mr. Isdell?)

Although presumably Pepsi is gratified by at least one young athlete’s loyalty, it hasn’t been  resting on its laurels. The company announced that it was coming out with a low-calorie version of Gatorade later this year, for the less-active athlete or for athletes to drink in between bouts of exercise.

Interestingly enough, Coke already has a low-cal version of Powerade. And according to Slate, the two companies have already sued and settled over competing claims regarding Coke’s ad for Powerade Option vs Gatorade.  So why would Pepsi put out its own lite product after successfully pointing out that you want high(er) calories in a sport drink?

Because diet anything is good: If they could make diet water, they could. Because there is so much competition in the sports and fitness drinks industry that only by dividing your brand into smaller and smaller segments do you have a hope of retaining market share and brand loyalty. With a recent health report stating a strong link to soda and heart disease, both Pepsi and Coke and their eponymous soft drinks are under the gun and both are seeking to boost sales of non-carbonated beverages.

So pretty soon my daughter will have more Gatorade options to choose from — not just red, orange, green, yellow (her favorite), and blue but diet and regular. I’m betting she’ll stick with the original formulation though. Who can check an offenseman into the boards on less than 50 calories a serving?*

* Technically, there’s no checking in inline hockey. Right.