Lucozade Advert and Research

Lucozade: 

- Soft drink manufactured and        marketed by Japanese company         Suntory.

- Originally called Glucozade

- Created in 1927 by a Newcastle pharmacist William Walker Hunter

- Sold as an energy drink for the sick - slogan was 'Lucozade aids recovery'

- Rebranded in 1978 as a 'pick me up' and a sports drink in 1983

- One of there Lucozade campaign was £4million

The 1950's and 1960's saw Lucozade begin a heavyweight nation advertising support. 

  1950's Advert1960's Advert

1970's

- Decreasing role for Lucozade since the general population began to grow healthier and ill less frequently.

- Sales dropped and an attempted brand repositioning wasn't a success.

1982's

- Significant and successful repositioning occurred. 

- 'Aids recovery' removed from bottle to 'replaces lost energy'

- Provided energetic, busy and successful people with energy. 

- Olympic Decathlete Daley Thompson brand icon - new flavour and packaging innovations.

1989's

- Beecham Group and SmithKline Beckman merged.

- After rebranding sales in the UK tripled to $75 million

1990's

- Diversified with the launch of Lucozade sport - range of isotonic sport drinks

- 'Get to your thirst, fast'

- First brand to launch sports sponsorship deal namely British Athletes and FA Carling Premiership

2003's

- Energy drink sector worth around $940million

- Market leader in the energy drink category with 60% value share

2004's

- Range of flavour produced - tropical, lemon, orange, citrus, wild berry

2013's

- GlaxoSmithKline sold Lucozade to Japanese Suntory for £1.35 billion

2017's

- Drink reformulated to contain less sugar and avoid the sugar tax, 

- Fashion brand Misguided was included in a Lucozade campaign where drinkers could get discounts.

Cross media promotion when Lucozade changed its name to Larazade in celebration of the new game release based on Lara croft 'Shadow of the Tomb Raider'. Sold 63 million copies worldwide which created additional sales of Lucozade Energy. Moreover there were prizes to be won £40,000.

Achievements:

- Sales worth £150 Million

- Number 1 in the energy drink category

- Lucozade Sports advertising has featured some of Britain's leading sport icons

- Brand was launched using the England footballer John Barnes, even featured the football captain Alan Shearer in the 1990's when it advertised it could 'keep top athletes going for 33% longer'.

Brand Values:

- Remained a trusted brand that people have relied on for times when they need energy

- Performance benefits for real sportsmen

- Focuses on exercise benefits/active lifestyles

- They know their target audience.

Aims of campaign:

- educate consumers on how there soft drink can improve you health and sporting performance

- Steven Spinola - brand manager - said 'hydrates and fuels you better than water' in the 'I believe' campaign which featured the likes of Gareth Bale.

- Advert first published to the world July 30th 2013 

- The usage of social media was used to help promote the product.

- The hashtag 'I believe' was used on Facebook and Twitter which quickly and easily spread the news to people all over the world. They even created there own social media pages to advertise.

- Principle consumers and target audience = teenagers and young adults.

How has advertising for Lucozade changed?

This is an older Lucozade advert and you can see how the advert is representing females but also a more stereotypical household environment of the mother looking after her daughter. The aims of the advert is to help pick you up if you're having a slow day, as the advert puts it, 'replaces lost energy'. Moreover the product itself is in the foreground on the right hand side emphasising the importance of the product and what is being advertised. Both the girls in the picture are smiling suggesting how good the drink really is to the viewers of the advert so they know that this drink has positive effects. You can also see a woman in the corner dressed as a nurse displaying to the viewer how its approved by nurses representing how its good for your health. The slogan at the bottom is 'invaluable in sickness and in health'. One dominant reading could be how the drink keeps you feeling your best despite you being unwell however a more negotiated reading could imply how 'in sickness and in health' is the same line used in a marriage when talking about love so this drink could represent how it'll always be there for you to help you, like the marriage vows, 'in sickness and in health'. The adverts target audience seems to be for housewives as there is a miminal representation of males which can be infered they are not incharge of looking after the sick daughter or potentially the advert represents males as not getting sick. 

However when looking at a more modern day advertisement for Lucozade there is much more differences. The main difference is what gender is being represented in the advert. In the previous one it displays a stereotypical housewife looking after her child but in this advert an athletic male is being represented. He's looking directly into camera meeting convention with the shot type medium close up. The aims of this advert is significantly different in this advert as its more based around helping give you energy for sports people whereas the old advert is highlighting how it makes you feel better when you are ill. Lucozade has effectively changed their advertising skills by using Gareth Bale, a highly respected footballer, to advertise this campaign and use him as a sporting role model. Moreover people who look up to him, his fans target audience, will therefore purchase the drink. Gareth Bale is also wearing his footballing kit therefore enhancing the idea that this is a drink for sports players. However you can say there is a male dominance to this advert as most people think of sport, especially football, to more male dominated. The colour scheme is made up of a simple blue background and yellow highlights which also equates to the brand identity of the Lucozade bottle which has that same colour scheme. In a bold sanserif font reads 'in a different league' representing how this drink is completely different to all other energy drinks on the market but also that text is a football analogy about league tables which the football fans would understand emphasising how good this product is. Lastly by adding the caption 'scientifically proven' makes the viewer understand this drink must succeed in given you energy as that is a trusted statement.

Social Anxieties:

- In society there is an unrealistic representation of men in the media with perfectly toned bodies and also the athletic bodies also represent the male obsession with their body image creating a new type of body insecurity. Therefore the traget audience would feel compelled to look like Gareth Bale and improve their health by buying this drink but it produces negative effects by them not liking their bodies as this is a unrealostic representation of most men. In a social context this ad appeals to a wealth of people despite being aimed at young boys/men in the field of sport (football oriented). Gareth Bale is seen as a British icon and inspiration to many. He grew up in a working class family which makes it easy to relate to an international star. Football itself is a huge part of British culture which does bring people of all ages and class to unite in social solidarity plus its an escape from the large political and cultural changes occurring in society.

Inequalities Gender:

- This advert proves the inequalities between men and women in sport. Gareth Bale is a popular footballer that mnay know of but most people cant name a single female footballer due to their lack of representation in the media. Moreoever the ad highlights the male dominance in sports and creates that sterotype in society that women don't play sports however that isnt the truth.

Inequalities Race:

- The representation of race unlike gender is seen more in these adverts as there is a sterotype for race and ethnicity in sport as they are all considered to be equals.

Celebrity Culture:

- Lucozade was smart in regarding how to get viewers attention when advertising. They realised the effectiveness of using a celebs face to promote a product which they have been doing in recent years. By capitalising on star appeal and star commondity it helped attract the stars fans and therefore helps in selling the drink. It also benefits the star too by him being seen and represented in ads and campaigns helps build their mass audience and give them more relevance.

Post Modernism:

- Lucozade has also effectively used celebrities and idols such as Gareth Bale to help promote their energy drinks and engage a new audience brought in by those celebrities. Moreover within this post modernism culture people tend to by products not based on the quality but who represents them, likes them and even whose face is on that product. As well as that the representation of the 'new man' is being athletic and toned and by buying this product and drinking it, itll help you transform into that new man.

Consumerism:

- Right now Lucozade is the number one soft drink brand rivalling other energy drinks like Monster. Their is also a huge market in the United Kingdom for energy drinks worth over £15 billion therefore meaning lucozade has adapted over the years to create a drink that appeals to the masses by the use of advertising and campaigns.