A tale of business endurance - Aussie icon Staminade warms up for battle against US sports drink giants..

Isotonic solution Staminade has been on Australian shelves long enough for a youthful tennis champion called John Newcombe to be the face of its advertising campaigns. But its presence dwindled in ensuing years thanks to the market saturation of two major American rivals, Gatorade and Powerade - owned by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola respectively. Staminade is produced by Australian company Steric which developed a number of brands including Dick Smith grocery products, Golden Fields (oats, cooking oils) and Sunshine (Food Service) since its inception in 1964. The manufacturing sites of Villawood (Sydney) and Geebung (Brisbane) seem a galaxy away from the billion dollar marketing budgets and Super Bowl exposure bestowed on the two Goliaths of the industry. However, Staminade's brand manager Lance Robey is planning on a resurgence for Staminade, which has survived for 30 years as Australia's only real opposition against more fancied rivals. "The sports drink and powder market has seen fantastic growth (30% year on year) all the way through the 90's and has only slowed a little due to the success of the energy segment, driven by Red Bull," Robey said. "Gatorade developed the category in 1965 and launched in Australia in 1993. Powerade came to Australia in 1988 in powder form and the bottles launched in 1992." Powerade have 60% share of the ready-to-drink bottle market according to Robey, with Gatorade at 35% and Staminade about 3%, he said. "In the powder segment Gatorade is at 58%, Powerade 27% and Staminade 13% - clearly we have a much stronger powder business than liquid. We want this to continue "We have done most of our marketing in the past around our 600ml as all sports drink manufacturers do, and run the powder behind that. However we .....

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