Okay friends.  I have now seen the new Gatorade packaging in the stores.  By every principle I know, this new brand architecture, line and packaging should cost Gatorade real volume.

1. You do not confuse the consumer.
2. This means don’t make revolutionary changes in your packaging all at once unless it is to fix a terrible problem, which Gatorade did not have.
3. Gatorade was fine.  A change from where they were to where they are now, even if it made sense, should have been taken in no fewer than four steps of evolutionary changes.
4. READ AGAIN.  You do not confuse your consumer.
5. The items in this line defy understanding

Proof.  I am what one could consider a Gatorade fanatic, having been given it first in 1963 by a University of Florida athletic trainer before the brand was introduced to the public.

Last weekend in the Montana mountains, I suffered an injury and was really dehydrated, and decided to go shop the new Gatorade line to see if I could find something for me (being a diabetic now).  I looked and read every package.  I can remember G and G2.  There were four other variants there, and I cannot remember the name of a single one.

I finally chose the ZERO with no calories because the G2 still had too much sugar for me.

AHA.  YES, YOU ARE CORRECT!!  Zero is not Gatorade.  Zero is Powerade which I did not discover for myself until I was back at the hotel drinking it.

This is not an isolated incident.  I have heard at least  a dozen consumers complaining about Gatorade confusion on an “unaided” basis.  This is going to cost some real money.  You just don’t go out of your way to confuse your users, particularly when they are already giving you more than a billion dollars a year of their business.

This is a marketing travesty.