Coca-Cola is giving the Powerade brand its first update in more than a decade and Shane Grant, President of the Still Beverage Division told Cheddar the time is ripe for change.
“What we’ve seen, really, in the sports trend market is some pretty fast evolution,” said Grant, adding, ”What we’ve seen is traditional core-sports drinks serving, what we think, is probably only a third of what we call ‘sweat moments.’”
Two of the new products will be called Powerade Power Water and Powerade Ultra. The company created the new sugar-free products as market research showed casual athletes are seeking out zero-calorie, water-based drinks.
The drinks will also feature shelf-stabilized creatine, which is supposed to provide energy to muscles. “Our data would show almost 70 percent of sports-drink users use some kind of supplement,” said Grant while noting that creatine use is growing at a high rate.
Grant told Cheddar there has been “pretty fast growth in casual athletic pursuit -- everything from running, jogging, CrossFit, to maybe biking.” He called that a “divergence of sweat moments.” Coupled with growth in what Grant called “high end, more endurance, more intense athletic activity,” Powerade saw an opportunity to create sports drinks to serve every type of user.
He believes the field will continue to grow as people become more active and Powerade hopes to play into that growth, deploying more marketing in 2020 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
