Brand Image

According to the Market Research Glossary, brand image is defined as "The total impression created in the mind of a potential consumer by a brand and all its functional and emotional associations. The total image can be seen as the sum of several images such as the product, user, occasion, service and personality images." Coca-Cola Company is one of the most recognized brands in the world. Coke prides themselves on selling life enhancing products that the entire world can enjoy. Instead of focusing, on the entire companies image, I have chosen to just look at the Powerade Brand.

The drink is marketed as the best sports drink for athletes. It was first introduced in 1990 and it's major competitor is Pepsi Gatorade. The Public Relations department worked to get Powerade as the official sports drink for the Olympics. In July 2001, Coca-Cola Company launched a new formula for Powerade including vitamins B3, B6 and B12, which play a role in energy metabolism. The company wanted to make it seem like Powerade is a healthy alternative for athletes to drink instead of just water. After the press releases and new releases that were announced on the revamping of the classic Powerade, multiple press stories came about. Although, I could not read the entire stories due to having to sign up on the website and pay, I found multiple stories. This just shows that all the work the PR committee did for the launching of their new and improved Powerade, it paid off.

In 2005, Coke created a new bottle for Powerade. Here is the actual press release for the creation of the new bottle. Due to this multiple stories were also sprung. However, due to not paying to view news article, I can not post a link to see them. Basically, every year or two years, the scientists at Coke are coming up with new and improved ways to make Powerade.

Here is are some to lists, which after researching on the Internet, I found stories in newspapers for each release:

• In 2008, Powerade Zero, a zero-calorie sports drink with electrolytes and no carbohydrates was released.
• In 2009, Powerade was relaunched as Powerade ION4, a formulation that contains four key electrolytes in the same ratio that is typically lost in sweat
• Late 2009- Early 2010, Coca-Cola will expand the Powerade Zero line with two new flavors - lemon-lime and orange. Also planned is a mid-calorie youth formula in 12 ounce bottles.
  

With the company improving the product every couple of years and the Public Relations team successfully selling the information to the media, Powerade has a good brand image. Powerade is placed in very successful industries to market to the biggest amount of people. Since creation, like stated earlier, Powerade has been the official drink for the Olympics since its creation.

They have an official website for Powerade. On the main page you can pick to go to the different countries in which Powerade is sold. The one for United States, just states what it is and the different flavors. Other websites, such as Spain, had more to it. I just looked around because I couldn't understand anything that was being said. It had athletes and different information actually explaining what is in each drink.

Overall, the PR team has done a great job maintaining the brand image for Powerade under the Coca-Cola Company. The only trouble that there is to this name is the competition between Gatorade.