ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701170067
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CLIFF EDWARDS ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO
FOR THE LEADING NAME in sports drinks, the only place to expand is out of the athletic arena.
Even couch potatoes get thirsty. Quaker Oats Co. hopes to quench millions of those parched palates with a new line of Gatorade drinks aimed at the nonathletic consumer.
The three-drink line, called Gatorade Frost, is scheduled for launch today and aimed at snaring the millions who hold their nose at the thought of working up a sweat or the active person who doesn't take part in sports.
``Where consumers currently might look to water to quench their active thirst, we foresee them turning to Gatorade Frost in the future,'' said Sue Wellington, vice president of marketing for Gatorade.
Sports drinks aim to replace body fluids lost through perspiration during exercise. So why a line of such drinks for the inactive person?
Gatorade can tap billions of potential new dollars and increase the category by as much as 50 percent with its Gatorade Glacier Freeze, Alpine Snow and Whitewater Splash drinks by pushing them as ``good-for-you'' products that cool and refresh the average person, said Tom Pirko, president of the consulting firm BevMark.
``The Gatorade brand is impregnable, the Kleenex of its category, so why not make more money on it by extending it to others?'' Pirko said. ``You're really heading out now into something where you virtually don't have to break a sweat to drink it, and there's a huge potential there, particularly in marketing to kids.''
Quaker also may be looking down the road, as America ages and becomes less active, said analyst John McMillan at Prudential Securities Inc.
``Sports beverages have to find some avenue of growth in the next 10 years as demographics start to work against the line,'' McMillan said. ``The product makes sense, at least on paper.''
The Gatorade Frost labels have cool images instead of beads of sweat. Alpine Snow has a citrus taste; Whitewater Splash tastes like watermelon with a hint of tropical fruits; Glacier Freeze tastes like a blueberry Popsicle.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB