POWERADE

How a “Me-Too” Brand GAINED Relevance — and Why This Thinking Still Wins Today

Summary: Powerade had every advantage—money, muscle, distribution—yet stalled and was quietly being delisted in a category it was built to dominate. By forcing Coca-Cola to think like a challenger, we nearly doubled Powerade’s share by rewriting the rules of relevance, innovation, and credibility.

Services Provided For This Project:

Target Audience Assessment
Consumer Insights
Strategy
Media Planning & Buying
Digital Media Planning & Buying
Creative
Production
In-store / Point-of-Sale
Package Design
Ad Operations
Consumer Promotions
Strategic Alliances
Event Sponsorship
Celebrity Talent

Why CMOs Should Care

This isn’t a sports drink story. It’s a playbook for challenger brands.

Powerade proves:

Retail follows demand, not brand size
Innovation opens doors promotions never will
Credibility can be built faster than heritage
And growth doesn’t come from playing defense

At Left Off Madison, this thinking didn’t stay in the past. It became the foundation of how we help brands punch above their weight today.

If your brand is being outspent, out-shelved, or out-shouted, then this is how you fight back.

This is not a recent campaign. That’s exactly the point.

The Powerade turnaround — alongside iconic work for LG Mobile, Hawaiian Punch, and dnL — represents the foundational thinking that shaped the leadership of Left Off Madison. These were the moments that taught us how to fight category leaders, re-ignite retailer belief, and engineer demand when the odds (and shelf space) are stacked against you.

For CMOs facing commoditization, retailer resistance, or a dominant competitor today, the lessons from Powerade are not dated, they’re timeless.

The Business Problem

Powerade was supposed to be inevitable. Built by The Coca-Cola Company — the most powerful beverage marketer on earth. It was designed to challenge PepsiCo’s Gatorade. On paper, Coca-Cola had everything: money, muscle, distribution, relationships.

Five years in, none of it mattered.

Powerade stalled at roughly 15% market share while Gatorade held 73%. This wasn’t a slow start, it was a rejection. Promotions failed. Coupons created brief spikes, then collapse. As the sports drink category grew, Powerade didn’t.

Retailers stopped debating the brand’s future and started deciding it. Powerade wasn’t being outspent or out-marketed, it was being delisted, quietly and permanently, one store at a time. The brand wasn’t just losing share; it was losing oxygen.

For Coca-Cola, this was rare and dangerous territory. Money couldn’t buy belief. Deals couldn’t force velocity. Power didn’t work here.

If Powerade couldn’t gain a foothold, Coca-Cola would be forced to surrender an entire growth category to PepsiCo—accepting an uncomfortable truth: in sports drinks, it wasn’t the leader.

It was the challenger. And challengers don’t win by spending more. They win by thinking differently.

The Strategic Reset

Coca-Cola made a bold internal move: brand leadership for Powerade shifted from Atlanta to Energy Brands (Glacéau) in Whitestone, NY — the same entrepreneurial incubator that built Smartwater and Vitaminwater.

New leadership demanded new thinking. New thinking demanded new agency partners. This wasn’t about polishing a message. It was about re-engineering relevance.

The Strategy: Flip the Battlefield

Instead of chasing Gatorade head-on, Powerade changed the rules of engagement. The turnaround was built on three strategic pillars:

1. Innovation as a Wedge

Powerade launched Powerade Zero, staking early claim to the sugar-free, performance-hydration space—well before it was a priority for Gatorade.

This wasn’t incremental innovation. It reframed Powerade as progressive, performance-driven, and health-aware. Not a copycat.

2. Science Over Swagger

As Gatorade leaned increasingly into lifestyle and heritage, Powerade leaned hard into sports science and functional performance. The message was clear: This isn’t about legacy. It’s about results.

3. Credibility at Scale

To rebuild trust and trial, Powerade engineered omnipresent credibility:

Olympic-level legitimacy
Elite athlete validation
Grassroots visibility where athletes are made, not just celebrated

The Plan: Force the Brand Back Onto the Shelf

Powerade didn’t whisper its comeback. It made it impossible to ignore.

Global Authority

Through Coca-Cola’s Olympic sponsorship, Powerade became the exclusive branded beverage of the Olympic Games surrounding the world’s greatest athletes with the product at the highest level of performance.

Star Power with Purpose

Powerade aligned with elite, high-performance athletes across major sports, including:

Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, LeBron James (NBA)
Ryan Howard (MLB)
Chris Johnson (NFL)
Ashton Eaton (Decathlon)

These weren’t just endorsements, they were proof points.

Cultural Saturation in Sports

Strategic NCAA partnerships
Courtside and sideline visibility via branded coolers and cups
Multi-year sponsorship of the NCAA Final Four
High-school athlete engagement via ESPN HS / RISE and local sports activations

Retail as a Growth Channel, Not a Gatekeeper

The brand and agency teams jointly developed custom retailer-specific sell-in stories, not one generic deck.

Retailers including Costco, BJ’s, 7-Eleven, Walgreens, CVS, Safeway, and Stop & Shop weren’t asked for space. They were shown why Powerade would earn it.

The Result

Powerade’s strategy-driven resurgence pushed the brand to a 27% market share peak, nearly doubling its position by:

Creating new reasons to believe
New reasons to stock
New reasons to choose

Gatorade remained the leader, but Powerade was no longer an afterthought. It was back in the game.

CELEBRATING DERRICK ROSE NBA MVP

We constructed a high-impact national (and local) ad campaign celebrating the NBA MVP recognition bestowed upon Powerade athlete, Derrick Rose. Click on images further below to view full size.

OUTDOOR AD IN ENGLEWOOD (click on image)

A basketball player wearing a red Bulls jersey holding a trophy in front of a crowd celebrating.

Hydrating Team U.S.A.

Leveraging Coca Cola Co.’s sponsorship of the Olympics, we took full advantage of the opportunity to make Powerade synonymous with Team U.S.A through advertising, point-of-sale, packaging, and retail partner promotions. Click on images below to view full size.

(click on image) Yes, we were tasked to create Mexican National Team creative, too.

gearing up for the game with the ncaa

Leveraging a sponsorship of the NCAA Final Four basketball championships, we developed a national consumer promotion that stretched from advertising and point-of-sale to packaging graphics. Click on images below to view full size.