This article takes a look at Coke's Powerade vs. Pepsi's Gatorade and how Coke plans on reviving their struggling product. Throughout this article it is apparent that Coke is using motivation and leadership while managing to change its underdog product. The company hopes that by using these methods they will gain more of the market share in the sport drink industry with the rival of Powerade.
In the article Rohan Oza, a senior brand manager who is in charge of the Powerade campaign, claims the company is, "evolving the sports-drink category". Coke is using a proactive process of change, since they are setting a new course of action for their sports drink rather than correcting the current one. Beginning last summer, Mr. Oza formed a quality circle to develop new strategies for the product. He stated that the group "started with a blank sheet". .
The team was made of motivated individuals who had an organizational goal of working to achieve success above Pepsi's Gatorade in the industry. The team began to "live and feel the brand," says the Mr. Oza. They met with football players, energy experts, psychologists, and even talked to a MTV producer to make decisions about how the product should evolve. The equity theory will hopefully prove that the knowledge, education and experience of the team will allow their new strategy to be successful. The campaign that normally would take a team two years to develop took them less than one. This was in part due to many decisions that were made on instinct, such as the products new logo. .
While Coke is implementing many new ways to get their product to the consumer, Pepsi still remains to be the leader in the industry. Pepsi claims, "We"re going to watch Powerade closely and see how they do." However they don't feel that it will affect what they do. Pepsi believe they, "know and understand the athlete better than anyone on the planet." This is what they feel keep them ahead of the new Powerade beverage in the industry.
