Another thread has touched on this, and we see tremendous cynicism toward sports nutrition companies on this forum and elsewhere.
That being the case:
What makes a sports nutritional “valid” to you?
How does a sports nutrition company earn the credibility of the forum contributor?
Could a “mainstream” brand with high general recognition across all demographics build “street cred” in the niche of endurance nutritionals, or, does the mainstream brand recognition disqualify them from the category?
crickets…
For me, validity comes from solid science going into the making of product, but that also needs to be backed up by good performance. I cramp pretty easily in hot races, and I need something that’s going to minimize that tendency.
Credibility comes from people using it for long periods of time and being happy with it. Also, it doesn’t hurt if professionals use the product on their own volition.
I don’t see why a mainstream brand couldn’t work it’s way into the market with a great product at a competitive price. If it works, it works.
Excellent.
When I talked to these guys I mentioned the way Cervelo advertised their valid technical features and benefits and put a heavy emphasis on the engineering behind the product and how that engineering differentiated their designs from others: What was tangibly different.
Additionally, I talked to them about a “Hearts and Minds” campaign that brought dealers and brand mavens (like ST forum contributors) to an event or “camp” where the attendees were “indoctrinated” into the developmental process and use of the products.
Their strategy was to include this market segment as a credibility building vehicle for their other brands.
One thing we also discussed was the success of sports marketing in conjuction with the Wheaties brand. Wheaties in not sports nutrition, but it has used sports marketing to garner significant market share. The difference here is these guys want to make a valid product you and I will actually use because we recognize it as “best”.
What does that take?
There are lots of directions they can go where they could get credibility.
In no particular order:
Build out their product line, every other player in this market has gels, drinks, recovery drinks, chews, some even have Salt tablets. Having just your basic drink is probably not enough if you really want to show and gain credibility that you are in this sport for the long haul. Maybe instead of reinventing the wheel they just buy someone and leave them alone, i.e. if it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it. Kind of like when Coke bought Vitamin Water, they didn’t change the name to Vitamin Water by Coke, they left it alone.
Be the title brand or product for good reputable races, with WTC now making the move into Olympic distance triathlon and putting together a national series, Powerade might want to team up with someone like Rev3 or ITU if that’s available or an option. PowerBar Perform is going to be at a lot of events with WTC, Powerade will need good exposure at the races to build their credibility. Besides just writing a check to be the sponser, make the product in a bottle that fits in waterbottle cages for bikes, innovate something new so athletes don’t have to try and mess to much with opening it while on the bike. This is a small detail, but it’s attention to detail that wins. Probably should make sure all their products or flavors are available at aide stations where appropriate. I know for long distance athletes this can be a problem when you might like a certain brand of Gel supporting a race, but then you get to the aid station and they have just 1 flavor and you just happen to hate that flavor. (Remember we’re talking about buying credibility here, which I think means they will have to really endear themselves to the athlete.)
Work on taste & flavor and not just in the lab or by some top tier athlete who they are paying. Put that product on the dashboard of a car for the afternoon in August in Houston, TX. Have their tester go run 10 miles at Zone 3-4 HR then let them try and drink that stuff when it’s good and hot and see how they stomach it. Things seem to go down more easily when they are cold, but when they are hot it can be really different. If the product “works” or can be better than just tolerated when served hot, they will get some credibility. Flavorless might also be a very good direction to go, I have a hard time with flavored drinks by the time I get to the run. There will always be people will never like what is being offered, but the more variety the better the chance they will have most people will like something they offer. I think Powerbar Perform has two, maybe three flavors. How many flavors of Gatorade are there?
Buy athletes and buy lots of them, I can’t imagine it’s very expensive to buy anywhere from 20-50 athletes when you are backed by a company like Coke and we are talking about triathlon. I think K-Swiss has done a good job with this and building credibility. There are a lot of Pro’s in triathlon sponsored by K-Swiss and I think people are starting to take notice. K-Swiss even sent me a free pair of their shoes last year after I signed up for Ironman Kansas 70.3. I like them and wear them. I don’t train in them because my running shoe of choice has not changed. If it does, K-Swiss will get a shot at my business.
Don’t sell your product through Wal-Mart, Target or traditional channels. Sell it mostly through retailers like bike shops and running stores, they stand a better chance to have someone speak to the customer about the product. I know where I live, I talk to my bike shop about nutrition products and the local running store stocks lots of different products and their sales personnel are fairly knowledgable. Nike did this when they entered the skateboarding market. They sold their skate shoes at skate shops, not through Finishline, Sports Authority or Foot Locker. Coke has plenty of shelf space and great distribution through most traditional channels, but if you need to build credibility you probably need someone to speak about the product and the bike shop or running store will not support your product when it is being sold for 20-50% cheaper through Wal-mart and they can’t compete. While some will not like this idea of paying more for a product, if they want to enter this field, sell it at a loss or cheaper than other products already on the market at the shops.
Make your product better than the competition, prove it and don’t make it a gimmick. As a demographic triathletes are not dumb people when compared to the population of this country or the world. Companies claim all kinds of things, but few actually prove it. Oakley said their lenses were shatter proof, so what did they do? They went out and shot the lense with a .22 and proved it. Something along this line helps gain credibility in my opinion.
Hmm, I could go on and on, but that’s enough free information for now.
crickets…
YES!
crickets…
YES!
meh. Theyre great for protein but they start to stink if I leave them in my bento box. I’ve tried blending them into a sports drink but the chitinous shells clog up the nozzle on the water bottle.
crickets…
YES!
meh. Theyre great for protein but they start to stink if I leave them in my bento box. I’ve tried blending them into a sports drink but the chitinous shells clog up the nozzle on the water bottle.
Get a Vita-Mix! It changed my life!
I’ll play!!
Arguably the biggest player in the sports drink category IS a “mainstream” brand - Gatorade. But that is largely due to the fact that they essentially created the category way back in the day.
That said, their attempts to introduce line extensions targeting the “serious” athlete in recent years have all pretty much failed. But yet many of the same athletes still rely on the standard product as their “go to” choice. An interesting paradox.
The beverage industry is all about trial and sampling. Further, brand allegiances can be VERY hard to break. You are either a Coke person or a Pepsi person. Very few are indifferent on the issue. If you drink Vitamin Water, cahnces are that getting you to switch to SoBe LifeWater will be challenging. This becomes even stronger, IMO, with sports drinks. When you find something that works, my guess is that it is pretty hard to sway a person from it. How many are really willing to risk their performances on something “new” when you KNOW Cytomax / Gatorade / Infinit / whatever works for you?
Taht said, there is probably a large batch of “uncommitted” people who are using something, but aren’t 100% aligned with their choice yet. Those are the best candidates to target…the question becomes whether or not you can get them to “commit” to your brand / product?
Which brings us back to a “mainstream” brand and “street cred”…how do they get it and is it possible? (The following assumes a good product, BTW) Sample, sample, sample…get it out there as much as possible. Focus more on guerrilla marketing tactics vs. Marketing 101 tactics. Look at smart sponsorships - based on what I have read here, no one is really a fan of the PowerBar stuff and their M Dot sponsorship. IMO, it smacks of the “big boys” riding roughshod.
OTOH, look at what K-Swiss has done over the years…jeez, here is a company that was primarily known for TENNIS shoes and has since made pretty big inroads into the running and tri shoe market.
Arguing the nutritionals / superior side of the equation is tough…let’s face it, it puts most people to sleep.
Openness.
This seems to be the one quality that earns more goodwill than anything else on this forum. People here are willing to try a company that wants to know what they think, wants to make the best product for the consumer, and wants to make sure the consumer has a positive experience. I think one of the problems with Powerbar Perform is that it has created the perception that a big company created it and then they paid enough to get the rights to force it down your throat. That doesn’t create a positive brand relationship. Also, it tastes like shit.
At the same time, just being present on the forum and trying to create a positive consumer experience has to be coupled with an actual product that people like to use and has some actual science and testing behind it.
If I were a huge company about to enter this market, the first goal would be to separate the Tri/Endurance division as much as possible from the main company. Make sure people know that this new division will be pretty autonomous in creating the perfect endurance formula, but that they will have access to all of the science and manufacturing know how of the main company. Meet with athletes, find out what they want, test obsessively and then bring the product to market with as many free samples as possible.
Let this company know that I would love to formulate this plan, and they can private message me to offer me a job.
I would agree at making the product line more diversified. I for one tend to stick to one brand where possible. It seems easier for me to know what is going on with my nutrition.
I would say make the product as simple as possible. the more “stuff” in it, the worse it looks to me, and frankly the base product (a la Gatorade) is an electrolyte drink. How much stuff needs to be in that?
I wouldn’t agree with making it exclusive though. Gatorade is the go to powered drink / pre mix. You buy it everywhere, including at the gas station you need to stop at on a hot day when you run out of goodies. Most triathletes are AGers, most don’t want to spend the extra premium bucks (IMO) on specialized high priced Gatorade. Plus you make it easy to buy and people buy it.
Reduced flavour options would be grand. After you get over heated, the thick syrup that most sports drinks are just seems to get worse. That is why I use Gatorade. It is easy to mix, I can mix it down and I can stomach it regardless of temp.
Openness.
In addition to objective science with clear and concise studies, which would go hand and hand with being open.
Exceptional customer service.
Ultimately, I feel there are simply two camps (with some gray area). Those who feel that they can benefit from supplementing and those that dont. Whatever the product is, it also has to work for the individual - meaning that it cant cause GI issues otherwise all the science in the world is moot.
You guys paying attention?
Sample, sample, sample…get it out there as much as possible. Focus more on guerrilla marketing tactics vs. Marketing 101 tactics. Look at smart sponsorships - based on what I have read here, no one is really a fan of the PowerBar stuff and their M Dot sponsorship. IMO, it smacks of the “big boys” riding roughshod.
Excellent- thank you Power13.
I can’t be super expensive. Spending $100/month on specialty sports drinks screams snake oil to me.
It needs to be consistent with it’s sugars. If the powdered variety vs the wet uses different sources for sugar I’m not going to bother trying either. Automatic F.
No last minute switch-a-roos for big events. It tells me that your ‘business’ is more important than my success on race day. I signed up for IMCdA 2010 expecting G-rade Endurance. A month prior to the race I couldn’t verify if I would be receiving G-rade, G-rade Endurance, or a Powerbar product. Nuances like this keeps me away from all of three. I bought a ticket to a G-rade Endurance race. (It ended up being regular g-rade by they way…but I still don’t know if it came from a powder or not…I raced with EFS.)
Support local races. I don’t give anyone credit for supplying the on course nutrition at the race I paid $500 to attend. I do prefer to support the company supplying drinks to the $50 sprint tri that benefits a charity.
You have to make an electrolyte formula, an endurance maltodextrin based drink, and a recovery drink. Hammer does this well. As for large companies, Gatorade actually already does this, but their product road map is all over the place and very confusing.
I actually really like their Pro recovery drink. I had it once after an open marathon. I can never find it though, and that syrupy recover is all I ever see.
I’d say relying solely on high fructose corn syrup as the sweetener / calorie source does the opposite of earn credibility.
You guys paying attention?
Sample, sample, sample…get it out there as much as possible. Focus more on guerrilla marketing tactics vs. Marketing 101 tactics. Look at smart sponsorships - based on what I have read here, no one is really a fan of the PowerBar stuff and their M Dot sponsorship. IMO, it smacks of the “big boys” riding roughshod.
Excellent- thank you Power13.
See also Infinit’s efforts to build its brand at a race where it was specifically banned from the expo area because the race organizers’ poison of choice got scared of losing its monopoly.
I mentioned that, and the validity of the “lab” style vibe and the “niche” or boutique necessity. We don’t want what everyone else has. We want something special, something exclusive…
I’d say relying solely on high fructose corn syrup as the sweetener / calorie source does the opposite of earn credibility.
No doubt the trend in beverages right now is the “Natural” version…i.e. using regular ol’ sugar instead of HFCS. But I haven’t really seen it yet in any sports drink (at least I can’t recall it). That could be the opening they need to gain a foot hold…i.e. an difference they could “own.”