Powerade


Powerade is a sports drink created, manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is PepsiCo's Gatorade brands.

History

In 1988, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics, alongside Aquarius, another sports drink made by Coca-Cola. It is a rival of another sports drink, Gatorade.
In July 2001, The Coca-Cola Company launched a new formula for Powerade including vitamins B3, B6 and B12, which play a role in energy metabolism.
In July 2002, The Coca-Cola Company updated the bottles of the standard Powerade to a new sport-grip bottle.
In 2002, The Coca-Cola Company introduced Powerade Option to the United States, in response to Gatorade's popular Propel. Option is a "low Calorie sports drink" that is colorless and sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium, to provide sugar-conscious consumers with another rehydration choice. Powerade Option took 36% of the Fitness Water category behind Propel's 42%.
In 2007, Powerade Zero was released, a sports drink with electrolytes, which contains no sugar, no calories and no carbohydrates. Powerade Option was subsequently discontinued.
In June 2009, The Coca-Cola Company bought Glacéau, owner of brands such as VitaminWater and SmartWater, for $4.1 billion, a price tag that signaled the company's seriousness in pursuing growth of non-carbonated beverages. Since then, the company has also given its Glacéau management team control of its Powerade sports drink brand.

Competition

Powerade's main competition is Gatorade marketed by the Quaker Oats Company, a division of PepsiCo. Gatorade, which was branded at the University of Florida in 1965, was the first commercially available sports drink in the United States. It now holds a commanding share of the market. As of 2011, Gatorade held a 70% market share to Powerade's 28.5%.
All Sport is a competitor marketed by All Sport, Inc. and distributed by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. All Sport was marketed by PepsiCo until 2001, when Gatorade's maker, the Quaker Oats Company was acquired by PepsiCo. All Sport was sold to the Monarch Beverage Company soon after. Powerade and All Sport have each been distributed through their own direct store deliver channels. It was subsequently purchased by Gary Smith, the Chairman & CEO of All Sport, Inc. of Austin, Texas.
Outside the United States, the Lucozade energy drink competes with Powerade. Lucozade's formulation differs in that it uses primarily glucose and contains caffeine. The more direct competitor to Powerade and Gatorade is Lucozade Sport.

Sponsorships

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Note: Standard 8-ounce servings meet the FDA definition of 'low sodium' and have less sodium than a glass of chocolate milk.

Flavors

United States

Currently, there are sixteen flavors of Powerade available in the United States:
In addition, there are six flavors of Powerade Zero, a zero calorie version of Powerade:
Discontinued flavors previously available in the United States:
Discontinued Flavours
Like its main competitor, Gatorade, Powerade is made with sugar, syrups and salt.
One Powerade ad campaign saying that Powerade ION4 is superior to Gatorade has been accused of being deceptive and false by Pepsi, the parent owner of Gatorade. The courts ruled in favor of Powerade as of August 2009.

Sponsors