TRIATHLON PARTICIPATION, GROWTH TRENDS AND DEMOGRAPHICS

In a group setting, you will create a marketing plan for a new venture, which is a new health drink for athletes.

You will create an extensive marketing plan report and a subsequent summary PowerPoint slideshow. The

slide show will not be presented in class, but a high-quality PowerPoint production is required and assumes

you would be giving this presentation to a board member that summarized your marketing plan.

Introduction

The multisport market has been growing significantly over the past few years, specifically the triathlon segment at

Olympic and Ironman distances. The separate market research documents found in Doc Sharing titled the USA

Triathlon Market Research.pdf and USA Triathlon Membership.pdf provide an excellent analysis of this market.

One of the most critical areas for an athlete to get right on longer races (Olympic and above) is the aspect of

nutrition. Across the three different disciplines of swim, bike, and run, different muscle groups are all taxed and

must be done at a continuous high intensity across 3+ hours, and the body needs proper hydration and nutrition to

keep performing at peak levels. It would be very difficult to achieve peak performance, let alone finish an endurance

distance event with an inadequate or improper nutritional strategy. This strategy involves much more than a few gel

packs or some water or a bar of some sort.

Athletes must balance flavor, proper energy, electrolytes, proper carbohydrate mix, and sufficient quantities of

calories and protein to achieve their goals, whether it is to finish or win their age group.

Having completed several Olympic and Ironman 70.3 events, Ben Smith believes there has to be a better way to

keep himself optimally hydrated and fueled. In race after race, he has suffered a combination of problems including

bad taste; GI distress, the inability to consume the number of calories and electrolytes in race conditions, and

simply the inability to carry and easily prepare and consume calories and nutrition throughout the bike and run that

are critical for any athlete to achieve their goals. Ben Smith wants a better solution than to juggle a cumbersome

and expensive array of suboptimal products (gels, chews, preformulated high-sugar drinks, pills, etc.) and has set

out to develop a new venture to address this underserved need.

Proper carbohydrate components provide short and long-chain energy, electrolytes contribute to muscle

function and protein provides power, but all this has to not only be correctly formulated but also needs to be in a

the form that is easily and willingly consumed and that is easily and quickly accessed by the body so it can be put to

immediate use.

After talking with hundreds of fellow athletes and scanning the market, Ben finds that despite the existence of

several high-profile products, there is no product with the completely correct formulation that is effective, easy on

the stomach, and delivers performance goals by actually being absorbed and used by the body.

Each athlete has a different size, weight, sweat rate, race goals, caloric requirements, electrolyte needs, and flavor

preferences, so any product would ideally need to be customized to their own individual requirements and

preferences. Moreover, the product must be stable and maintain taste and performance across the many hours of a

race, including in hot conditions where the nutrition would likely rise to ambient temperatures or hotter. Lastly, a

product that leaves an athlete bonked out before the finish, or one that works but cannot be consumed because of

taste or GI and/or bloat issues, is of limited value.

Based on his experience, conversations, and competitive research, Ben is convinced there is a good opportunity in

the nutrition space for a new customized drink product and he is setting out to work.

The first thing he needs to do is to conduct a bit of market research into the triathlon market (as his initial market,

before expanding to others) to evaluate the opportunity using structured criteria and to know where the strengths

and weaknesses lay. This includes evaluating and selecting the right product, designing a research program to get

the needed voice of the customer, and digging into the market to segment, target, and position his new product

while gaining an accurate perspective on the competition.

 

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