The Expansion From Sports Hydration To All-Day Hydration…For Everyone
Packaged Facts analysts discuss:
PepsiCo brings hydration juggernaut Gatorade into water -- The electrolyte-infused beverage, which was developed by the CPG giant to help support all-day hydration, will start hitting shelves in 2024
Interesting that these mentions about Gatorade’s product line expansion into the enhanced water category for 2024 don’t even mention Unilever's Liquid IV. They are hitting it big in the all-day hydration area. In fact, I feel like “all day hydration” is Liquid IV’s core marketing push these days.
Do you think this is because the Gatorade option is ready-to-drink and Liquid IV is a mix?
Yeah, I think they're not mentioning Liquid IV because of this distinction. But I believe these products are highly related... the beverage giants have seen Liquid IV's success with targeting all-day hydration and want to bring this marketing tactic to ready-to-drink sports drinks. This is a good opportunity for Gatorade.
Makes sense. It's interesting that they are starting with an unflavored version, since that's not typical for Gatorade. Pepsico's Propel already has no/low-sugar enhanced water with Propel… but that product is flavored too.
Well, Gatorade has one thing no one else does… the Gatorade brand. They’ve been a big name in hydration and sports drinks so long… dare I say, the Xerox or Kleenex of sports drinks.
Liquid IV has been growing so fast. I had never heard of it a few years ago, but now I see it in a lot of stores like Costco – the power of Unilever!
Its prime marketing strategy is targeting everyday uses like travel and hydration during the workday rather than just sports activities and workouts. This is something the whole hydration/sports drink category has been looking too… broadening the market.
Discussions of hydration – beyond people talking about hitting their 8 glasses of water a day – particularly morphed during the COVID pandemic when hydration become such a key point of the health conversation. Gatorade getting into this space shows just how important a market push this is and how they also see potential gains.
For more information see the new
Energy & Sports Drinks: US Market Trends & Opportunities and
Functional Beverages: Market Trends and Opportunities.