A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGIES DEPLOYED BY POPULAR ENERGY DRINK CONGLOMERATIONS

Background: The energy drink market has been growing ever since the introduction of Red Bull in 1987 and clearly Red Bull still leads the market that it created for itself and its competitors like Monster Energy, Gatorade and many more. The huge success of these energy drink conglomerates can be owed to their out of the box marketing strategies and techniques that have left the whole world in admiration. The way these conglomerates represent themselves in the market is quite unique and distinctive and this is what makes this whole study engrossing and fascinating. These energy drink companies do not advertise the product but the idea behind and experiences attached with the drink. There is a major differentiating factor between Red Bull-Monster Energy and Gatorade. Red Bull and Monster Energy have 30 mg of caffeine in each 100 grams of the drink (Monster Zero Ultra Flavours | Zero-Sugar Energy Drinks, n.d.) (Facts & Figures - Red Bull Red Edition, n.d.) whereas Gatorade contains electrolytes, that helps in replenishing the energy lost during extensive activity. Objective: To critically compare and analyse the marketing strategies of popular energy drink conglomerates like Red bull, Monster Energy, Gatorade. Through the detailed analysis using the survey, we shall observe how popular and successful these strategies have proven to be in India. Methodology: This research paper lays due emphasis on the positive as well as the negative outcomes of the marketing techniques and their establishment in India. The methodology used for this paper is both qualitative, quantitative and critical discourse analysis. The data pertaining to marketing strategies has been collected from secondary sources such as reports, journals, magazines, newspaper articles and the official websites of the above mentioned energy drinks.