A Cure-All in a Can
The energy drink and energy shot markets have seen explosive growth in just a few years, and with so many options on one shelf, the efforts for marketers to distinguish their copy cat energy drink and shots from the competition has become more about solving it all and not so much on providing a simple boost of energy.
For many of these new entrants, their strategies to sell include making claims that their drink can give you more than its neighbors in the convenience store cooler. For example, energy Drink 1 will give you A and B, but next to it energy Drink 2 says it will give you A, B and C. It would just make sense that Drink 2 is better, right?
It's come to a point where labels tell you that the drink will pretty much solve it all. You can now find energy drinks that allege improvement in learning, sexual performance, enhanced mood, muscle recovery, coordination, fat burning, motivation and more in just one can. Somehow you just stumbled upon a miracle sent from the energy drink gods right there next to the soda and water at your small town gas station and it will do everything but walk your dog.
The same was true in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when patent medicines, also called nostrums, offered a solution for just about every ailment known to mankind. These so-called remedies were high in hype and low in results. Many contained alcohol or cocaine to give the illusion of “doing something” but served mainly to fool gullible consumers and line the pockets of their promoters.
The emergence of more competitors in the energy drink and shot markets mean more unsubstantiated claims designed to sway your purchase decision. That may have worked back in the patent medicine era, but today’s consumers are much more savvy. You're already able to make an educated energy drink comparison and filter out the puffery to choose what you feel is the best choice. So there shouldn't be a need to trick you into a purchase. We would all like a cure-all in a can that could improve our overall wellbeing instantly, but it only exists in the imaginations of unscrupulous marketers.
For many of these new entrants, their strategies to sell include making claims that their drink can give you more than its neighbors in the convenience store cooler. For example, energy Drink 1 will give you A and B, but next to it energy Drink 2 says it will give you A, B and C. It would just make sense that Drink 2 is better, right?
It's come to a point where labels tell you that the drink will pretty much solve it all. You can now find energy drinks that allege improvement in learning, sexual performance, enhanced mood, muscle recovery, coordination, fat burning, motivation and more in just one can. Somehow you just stumbled upon a miracle sent from the energy drink gods right there next to the soda and water at your small town gas station and it will do everything but walk your dog.
The same was true in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when patent medicines, also called nostrums, offered a solution for just about every ailment known to mankind. These so-called remedies were high in hype and low in results. Many contained alcohol or cocaine to give the illusion of “doing something” but served mainly to fool gullible consumers and line the pockets of their promoters.
The emergence of more competitors in the energy drink and shot markets mean more unsubstantiated claims designed to sway your purchase decision. That may have worked back in the patent medicine era, but today’s consumers are much more savvy. You're already able to make an educated energy drink comparison and filter out the puffery to choose what you feel is the best choice. So there shouldn't be a need to trick you into a purchase. We would all like a cure-all in a can that could improve our overall wellbeing instantly, but it only exists in the imaginations of unscrupulous marketers.
Labels: energy drinks
Posted
on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 4:01 PM.
» Post a Comment