It’s one of the great re-positioning case studies. From medicinal drink of grandmas to energy drink of sportsmen.
It’s an example that is dragged out at all levels of marketing theory classes. Successful and sensible, and allowing a brand to thrive in changing times. Lovely.
So, this brand has previous. It’s moved with the times before. And it is seemingly trying to do it again.
But, I’m confused. Their latest ad campaign does what a lot of sports brands have tried to do recently (I’m assuming now that Lucozade is a bona fide sports brand by the way) – combine sport with other forms of modern culture, notably music. The effect of this, Lucozade clearly hopes, is to reposition themselves as a “sports culture” brand – one that acknowledges the role that sport plays in people’s lives on and off the pitch.
It’s no longer about what Lucozade can do for your performance, as it was with John Barnes below, it is about how Lucozade can be a part of your story from sport and beyond – whether you participate or spectate.
Now, I don’t really like this strategy. It feels like they are running scared in the face of competition from the likes of Powerade.
But at least it is a strategy. Fair enough if the guys who live and breath that brand think that it can span the sport-culture divide.
My issue comes with the other stuff that I see from the brand. This morning I drove past 3, maybe 4, bus stop ads from Lucozade.
These ads were majoring on a “Free Sports Session” message, driving people to this website – www.lucozade.com/participate/sport-free60/
Back to the pitch again. All about performance and participation.
It feels like a different brand, in a different space and with a totally different positioning. It feels like the two things have been done by two separate agencies who have never spoken to each other.
So, I had a look at their Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/lucozade, and things become interesting.
The main Lucozade brand is being positioned as the sports culture lead, but the Lucozade Sport brand focuses on performance and life on the pitch and the track.
So it makes a little more sense – it’s the traditional energy drink that is moving more into the culture space, with the hope being that the Lucozade Sport brand can continue to do its stuff successfully as before.
Right. Fine. I can buy that. I understand it now.
But the problem still remains – should I have had to go to all of that effort to understand what they are trying to tell me?
I’m seeing ads like this one which tell me one thing about the Lucozade brand:
And I’m driving past other ads that tell me something totally different. I’m confused.
I think the teams behind these disparate pieces of communication need to get together and look a little more closely as to how they fit into the overall message that is getting across. They need to stop competing with each other and start to achieve a bit more clarity.
I could wade through all the messages myself and try to decode what they mean, to see whether this brand resonates with me in any way. But I’m not sure I have the energy.
