BIG time mistake G!

Felt it to be VERY necessary to follow up on my July 9th post about G/Gatorade as I stumbled on a WSJ article which describes how Gatorade did a BIG mistake in renaming its Gatorade as G. This not-so-small tradeoff of rebranding has now turned into one of THE biggest marketing mistakes in the recession. Pepsi has been hit harder than Coke - Pepsi with an overall 6% drop in sales, Coke with an overall 1% drop in sales in second quarter sales.

Must mean that Coke is doing something right & that consumers have been very confused about the G & G2 products on shelves.

Easy fix? Call me old fashioned but save the billion dollar brand & go back to its roots of the big lightning bolt & GATORADE on the bottle.

the power of the letter G

G. It used to be only a letter in the alphabet but recently through a rebranding strategy by Gatorade, G and G2 are the new Gatorade & Gatorade 2.

G is continuing its LT relationship with Michael Jordan by placing his photo on limited edition bottles this summer which many fans will probably collect - see Promo Magazine. Should be exciting to taste-test these three new flavors - which coincide with accomplishments MJ had during his career.

Now on to the G2 brand.... The G2 print and tv ads are pretty catchy - check out the Serena Cuevas & Serena Williams ad on YouTube - which compares the struggles & accomplishments of the dancer Serena & the tennis player Serena. It reaches a different target market than G as it markets to athletes who are more calorie-conscious but want the electrolytes and vitamins in a sports drink.

Although G and G2 have spent a lot on rebranding the already strong Gatorade brand, one hopes that the G and G2 bottles will not be mistaken in the grocery store for a new brand. Seems like a small tradeoff for an exciting new take on an already strong brand!