Gatorade Myanmar

Marketing Management assignment

Phyo Min Hein

Robinson business school

Executive summary

This assignment is about a product that will be introduced to Myanmar market. The goal is to
successfully plan the marketing plan for the Gatorade sport drink in Myanmar market. This plan includes
situation analysis, marketing strategy, financial projections and implementation and controls.

The situation analysis is all about market analysis in which PESTEL, SWOT analysis, Competitor
analysis, Marketing mix, Key to success factors and critical issues are indicated thoroughly.

The marketing strategy is the main body of this assignment. To conclude this part, the plan is to
introduce 2 main products Thirst Quencher and G2 with 4 different flavors each. The marketing
programs are TV advertising and radio advertising, billboards, samples to schools, sales promotions,
soccer club sponsorships, music festivals, social media marketing and personal selling for B2B
customers.

The financial projections are for your decision makings. According to my forecast 1,270, 857
units is the BEP point and if our marketing plan goes well without any error it can be achievable in 3 and
half year. The detailed planning and calculation will be shown below.

These are the marketing plans I have planned and there can be deviation from the plan based on
market research development. The deviation ratio can be 5% to 15% if the external factors are not
changed.
Situation Analysis

Historical Background

Gatorade is the sports fuel company based in America. The Gatorade is now the No.1 leading
premium sport drinks around the world. The formula for this sports drink is founded in 1965 by the
researchers – Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. H. James Free and Dr. Alejandro de Quesada. This
sports drink is proven on the field of sports that it helps refuel the large amount of carbohydrates and
electrolytes that are drained in physical sports. So the result is that the sportsmen who drink Gatorade
outlast the others who don’t. Today there are many products that are produced in Gatorade in four
categories which are Thirst Quencher (original formula) , Sports Fuel , Endurance and Equipment.

Market summary

This kind of product has to market a lot since Myanmar people are not familiar with this kind of
sport drinks. Although Gatorade is a very well-established brand all around the world, it is not very well
known in Myanmar. On the other hand, Myanmar has been changing in every sector recently and till
now its economy is still blooming rapidly so there are lots of opportunities. Myanmar people are now
focusing more on exercising in fitness centers especially teenagers and young adults. Moreover,
Myanmar recently built up its own football pro league which is still immature but promising. So the
market is still fresh for the sport drink like Gatorade but it needs well defined marketing plans and
market research in order to penetrate this market since it is a premium brand with relatively high in
price.
Marketing Mix for Gatorade in Myanmar Market

Product

Since Myanmar is still a growing economy it is not wise to distribute all of the products of
Gatorade. Furthermore, it will take lots of resources to distribute all of the products at once and it can
confuse the customers since there are many products under the same brand. It will cause lots and lots
of financial in branding and less effective in marketing. So there will be only two products which we can
focus on. These two products are:

 Gatorade Thirst Quencher

 G2

Thirst Quencher has 28 different flavors. However introducing this many flavors will not be
effective. So we will focus on four different flavors. These four flavors will be lemon-lime, berry, mango
xtremo and cool blue. G2 is the second generation of Thirst Quencher which has the same effect but
contain lower calorie. There are 9 flavors in G2 but like Thirst Quencher we will introduce only four
flavors which will be orange, grape, fruit punch and glacier freeze. There will be two packaging sizes
which are 12 US fl oz (240 ml) and 16.9 fl oz (500 ml).

Price

Product name Retail Price (kyats)

Thirst Quencher 240ml 600 kyats

G2 240ml 600 kyats

Thirst Quencher 500ml 900 kyats

G2 500 ml 900 kyats

 Place (Distribution Channel)

For Yangon,

Gatorade Myanmar

Warehouse

B2B buyers Retail shops Small stores

Consumers

For other major cities,

 Gatorade Myanmar

Warehouses

B2B customers Wholesales

Retail shops Small stores

Consumers

Market Needs and Market Trends

 Myanmar has always been keen on sports especially on soccer. Since the country hosted the
ASEAN sea game back in 2013, Myanmar people has been paying more attention to sports and physical
exercises. In the current day, teenagers and young adults are paying close attention to their body weight
and pay more time to the fitness centers. So the numbers of fitness centers are increasing yearly not
only in Yangon but also in other major cities in Myanmar. In addition to that, since 2009, there is
Myanmar National League (MNL) which is the Myanmar soccer professional league which draws
attention to public. Although it is not mature and huge like other major soccer league, it has been
improving year by year and has many possibilities to grow more. So the question is that what they are
drinking after the physical exercises. Water isn’t enough to re-energize the body since the sweat
contains minerals and physical exercises use carbohydrates which make you feel weak. In order to re-
energize sport drink is the best and the fastest way since it is healthier than the Energy drink like
Redbull. Since we have market needs and also the trend is supporting the product, Gatorade will make a
successful investment in Myanmar.

PESTEL analysis on Myanmar

Political factor

In 2015, there is an Election in Myanmar which changes the whole nation. The National League
for Democracy party which is led by Aung San Su Kyi who won the Nobel Peace Prize award in 1996 won
the election. This changes the whole political instability faced before since the other countries trusted
her a lot. It is a great possibility that there will be no more sanction to Myanmar and the political policy
will be stable.

Economic factor

Myanmar Economy has been growing rapidly lately and the whole economy has been blooming,
since tourism has been open to Myanmar. The currency exchange has been stable and it is the greatest
effect on the investment plan.

Technological factor
 Myanmar has been slow in improving in Technology since there was oppression for about 60
years. The greatest threat to investment is that there are shortage of electricity and not enough
infrastructures for the suburb area.

Environmental factor

There has been concern about environmental issues about deforestations and river pollutions
and since people are paying more attention and activist are watching closely it can become the threat to
the foreign companies.

Legal factor

Legal system in Myanmar can be said corrupted till now and there is no effective law to protect
copy-right and consumer protection law.

SWOT analysis

Strength Weakness
 World leading brand  Relatively higher price
 Strong financial resources  Unfamiliar product category in Myanmar
 Premium quality products  Lack of awareness
 Well-marketed internationally
 Different flavors

Opportunities Threats
 The economy is still growing rapidly  Lack of technology
 Increasing number of fitness centres  Sensitive environmental issues
 Myanmar National League  Weak legal system
 Stable political policy  Many substitute products (indirect
competitors)

Competitors’ Analysis
Direct Competitor

There is only one direct competitor for Gatorade which is Pocari sweat. This is the brand which
manufactures non carbonated isotonic drink developed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company Litmited in
Japan. The reason of being the only direct competitor of Gastorade is that Pocari Sweat has the same
effect on the body as the Gatorade which makes it in the same product category of Sport Drinks.
Although they have the first mover advantage as a sport drink, we can be able to compete them with
the quality of the drink as well as the variety of the flavors. Currently their main competitors are 100
plus, Purified Drinking Water companies and other soft drink companies including Energy Drinks.

Indirect Competitors

One of the major weaknesses of Gatorade in Myanmar is that it has many substitute products
widely available in Myanmar. These include Purified Drinking Water companies like Alpine, Designer
Water, etc. , energy drink which has almost the same effect as sport drinks such as Red Bull, Shark, etc
and soft drink like Coca-cola, Max plus, Pepsi, Blue-Mountain, etc. Unlike the other developed countries
such as United States of America, UK, Japan etc. Myanmar people often drink water when they feel
thirsty or hot. Even after physical exercises or sports they mostly drink water or soft drinks. This is one of
the reasons Pocari Sweat has to compete against them as direct competitors since there is only little
market as sport drink. However we should not compete directly against them but try to change the
mindset of the public by educating public that sport drinks unlike energy drinks or carbonated soft drink
is a healthy beverage which can boost one’s performance in physical strain.

Key to Success Factors

For the first 5 years, advertising and promotion play crucial roles in educating the public since it
will be very difficult to compete in the Red Ocean where there are many competitions aiming for
drinking products. The strategy is to persuade the customers to the sport drinks category where there
are limited competitions. Branding is also a big part of successful plan. Since our products are premium
products, the price is relatively higher than that of the others. People have to believe that it is fair to pay
for our products and gain satisfactions.

Critical issues
 The key issue is that the product category is very unfamiliar with the public that they might think
it is a waste to buy our products. It can take very long time to change that perception of the public and it
needs lots of time and resources. The competitions in beverage industry is too intense since Coca-cola
entered the market that it will be difficult to educate the public.

Marketing Strategy

Mission statement

Our mission is to be the leading beverage company in Myanmar in next 10 years.

Marketing objectives
Year Marketing Objective

First Year To gain awareness, educated public and gain 2% of beverage market in
Myanmar with minimum losses

Second Year To increase the sales by 20% from the previous year and to gain more loyal
customers

Third Year To achieve Break-even Point of the product and to maintain our market
share through promotion and events.

Targeted Markets

Gatorade is a sport drink. So obviously, our primary target customers are athletes or people who
like sports, body-builders, trainers and the people who do exercises regularly or go to the fitness centers
regularly with the age range of 10 to 40. Other targeted customers are high school and college students
with energetic and outgoing personality.

Brand positioning of Gatorade

 The Brand mantra of the Gatorade is “For that deep down body thirst.” The meaning is that it
can satisfy much more than the thirst for water. It can satisfy you for the win that you thirst for in the
competition. As a differentiation phrase in advertising, the advertising would include “healthy
professional drink ““work 30% faster than water in hydration” “refresh your fatigue” “choose your
favorite flavors”. Brand positioning of Gatorade would be difficult since it is hard to categorize the Point
of Parity (POP). You have to create your own category and persuade people to accept it as a sport drink.
Point of different (POD) would be it re-energize your fatigue and perform better and it is proven on the
field of sports.

Strategies

Firstly, there will be two kinds of products with 8 flavors with two packaging sizes; 240 ml and
500 ml for the first year as introducing our products. By second years, we will try to add more flavors
while increasing the sales of the products. The main reason of this strategy is that if we introduce more
than 8 flavors, the customers might confuse the products since they are not familiar with the products.
So we will try to focus on those 8 flavors. Another advantage of that strategy is that after one year,
people will start accepting our products and demanding more. So it will cause effect on new product and
can boosts our sales by introducing new tastes.

For the prices, it is already expensive enough to compete so in order to control the prices, we
will make distribution by ourselves in Yangon region. However there will be more marketing channels in
between in other states and divisions since we need local knowledge and experiences. But the final price
will be set by making contract with the wholesales and the retails. Moreover there will also be bundle
discounts like 12 packs discount. The core pricing strategy would be premium pricing strategy. However
since it is more important to gain market share than profit, we will use discounting and trade-in
allowance pricing strategy.

Distribution
 For the distribution channels for the first year we will use selective distribution strategy. As
shown in above, there will be two teams in distribution department. One team is the B2B distribution
channels and the other is the retails and small shops. B2B channels include private schools, football
clubs, sports stadiums etc. the retail shops in clued Ocean, city marts, Sein Gay Har etc. small stores
would be convenience stores. Starting from 2 nd year extensive distribution channel will be used with
more marketing channel partners.

Integrated marketing communication

For the integrated marketing programs we will use advertising a lot through mass media, sales
promotion plans, sports events and music festivals, CSR programs, internet and social media marketing
and also personal selling. For the advertising, we will firstly use televisions especially the programs that
young people and teenagers like. For example, Myanmar’s got talent, Myanmar Idol etc. For the radio,
we will air at the rush hour time like lunch breaks. The ads will be shown cinema that is showing the
trendy movie for the first four days. There will be bill board in the downtown area. For the sales
promotions, sampling program will be used for 5 months in selective government schools and private
high schools, we will give samples to the students who are playing any kind of sports. For the first year,
each bundle buy for example 12 packs we will give 1 extra 500 ml G2 in sales promotion. We will give
free drinks to the athletes in sports events and in second year we will sponsor the sport events like
college basketball league or sponsor soccer club from MNL. In second year we will host the music
festival in Myanmar like Electro Dancing Music (EDM) which is very popular among teenagers and young
adults. The social media marketing is also very important since it is very cost effective and its coverage is
enormous. Moreover, we can gather a lot of feedback which can be very useful in market research. We
can hold artistic competition or competition of photography through Facebook to promote the page.
Lastly, personal selling is for the B2B customers. We will make an appointment to the soccer club to sell
personally since the team might buy sport drinks as facilities for the athletes. For the CSR program,
Myanmar face flood every year and we will donate 1 G2 of every 10 bottles of Gatorade sold to the flood
victims.

Marketing calendar for the first year

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sep

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

April

Mar

Feb

Jan
Ads/Radio Billboard Samples Sales Sports Music Social
promotion sponsor festival media
Marketing calendar for the second Year

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sep

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

April

Mar

Feb

Jan
Ads/Radio Billboard Samples Sales Sport Music Social
promotions sponsor festival media

Marketing calendar for the third year would be similar to that of year 2 if not identical.
Marketing research

Marketing research will be very important since the organization will have to rely solely on that
since there is no previous sales data or customers’ feedback. We will hire the agent to gain market data
and will make our own survey in the next year. The first data should include the population density,
gender ratio, age groups, and other demographic and geographic data which are expected from the
agent. The survey data that we are going to gather are mainly based on psychological one which include
emotions about the brands and also quantitative one to measure customers’ awareness and marketing
effectiveness. There will also be sales force data which we can see daily sales or monthly sales up to the
yearly sales to measure the effectiveness of the marketing programs. The marketing research would be
both primary and secondary method. We will also use the social media and internet forum to support
the survey.

Financial plan

Break-even point = Fixed costs/ (price-variable costs)

=667,200,000/750 (average)-225

=667,200,000/525

=1,270, 857 units

To get to the break-even point, the company has to sell 1,270, 857 units of Gatorade products.
Sales forecasts

First year Second Third Fourth Fifth

(Units) year year year year
(Units) (Units) (Units) (Units)
10,000 20,000 35,000 40,000 41,000
Jan
10,000 21,000 36,000 42,000 40,000
Feb
12,000 23,000 35,000 41,000 40,000
Mar
13,000 21,000 33,000 40,000 38,000
Apr
13,000 25,000 38,000 38,000 40,000
May
15,000 28,000 36,000 39,000 39,000
Jun
14,000 27,000 39,000 38,000 38,000
Jul
20,000 30,000 38,000 37,000 39,000
Aug
20,000 30,000 37,000 38,000 40,000
Sep
25,000 34,000 39,000 38,000 39,000
Aug
25,000 33,000 40,000 39,000 40,000
Nov
25,000 35,000 40,000 40,000 40,000
Dec
202,000 327,000 446,000 47,000 474,000 1,919,000
Total
 According to this sales forecast and the analysis, the company would get break-even point in the
third year of august. After that point every sales that company made is the profits flowing into the
organization.

After 5 year sales forecast the company is expected to get:

1,919,000-1,270,857=648,143 units *525 (contribution margin)

=340,275,075 kyats

Expense forecast

1st year 2nd year 3rd year Total

(kyats) (kyats) (kyats) (kyats)
Advs /Radio 54,000,000 30,000,000 30,000,000 114,000,000

Billboard 18,000,000 15,000,000 15,000,000 48,000,000

Samples 11,250,000 4,500,000 0 15,750,000

Soccer 50,000,000 50,000,000 50,000,000 150,000,000

sponsorship

Music festival 0 30,000,000 30,000,000 60,000,000

387,750,000
Implementation and Control

Implementation

The forecasted sales will be divided according to the regions and sales manger will delegate the
sales target for each day in the respected regions. All the activities will be closely monitored and will
response immediately if it shows the sign of error. The marketing department’s performance will be
measured by3 factors which are sales, product awareness and customers’ feedbacks. The sales
department will be controlled by the targeted sales and will encourage more to sell more and motivated
by rewards and incentives
 Marketing Organization

Advertising Market research Promotion

manager manager
manager

Marketing director

Regional
Regional Regional Regional
sales
sales sales sales
manager (1)
manager (2) manager (3) manager (4)

Regional sales forcses Regional sales forcses Regional sales forcses Regional sales forcses

Customers
References

https://www.freepestelanalysis.com/pestel-analysis-of-myanmar/

https://www.thinkslogans.com/company/gatorade

http://www.gatorade.com

Marketing Management (14th Edition) by Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller, Pearson Prentice Hall, New
Jersey.

Lancaster G and Reynolds P. (2005). Management of Marketing, Elsevier.

Marketing (8th Edition) by Kotler Brown Burton Deans Armstrong, Pearson.