Kickstart by Mountain Dew launched by Pepsi CO. can fit into so many categories

by chee leng-Oncoffeemakers
(Singapore)

Kickstart is the best example of how innovative a marketeer can be. It is formulated to be a breakfast drink.

It contains 5% fruit juice, so it qualifies as a juice (according to FDA regulation). And because it is using less sugar (artificial sweetener) than contains less calories, I believe it qualifies for Healthier Choice Symbol given by the Singapore Health Promotion Board.

Then as it contains caffeine, it can compete in the energy drinks segment as well (although the company stressed that it contains much less caffeine than Monster or Red bull).

This is a pretty awesome drink. It is packed with the right element to succeed and the ingredients that will get authorities or NGO questioning are removed.

It is much more than being just formulated for breakfast, it is designed to compete and grab as much sales as possible.

But more can be bad for marketing. It can lead to confuse positioning. Sure, no marketing person will launched a multi varied marketing campaign, but greed or fear will soon crept in and then the marketing can branch into many categories.

I believe the positioning is to thrust Kickstart as a breakfast drink. There isn't any soda juice in the market.

The question is: why not? Probably not enough interest from the consumers?

If I need a beverage, I will go for either coffee, tea or fruit juice. Launching a soda fruit juice seems to be too niche.

Well, even if the North America market is healthy, it is scalable?

Can this formula be repeated in Asia (which is a growing market for almost anything?).

My $0.02

I know the market insights and potential for chill drinks come mainly from the amazing growth of RTD coffee.

Nescafe does superb business, Issimo is probably still doing well and you have many new players coming into the market.

So, why not come out with a drink with some caffeine and compete.

Think about this. Ready To Drink Coffee have been in the market for at least a decade. And it is not until recently then it is picking up speed. Prior to that, it was only popular in Japan.

Then, the taste profile from coffee to chill coffee isn't that far off.

How will the taste profile be for a caffeine laced fruit drink that has soda in it?

Who will be the target audience?

The fruit juice drinker that need some caffeine?

Or, the caffeine drinker that need some fruit and soda?

Personally, I like the positioning of Mountain Dew. And it has proven to be a good one, being the number one drink (soda in the non-cola segment).

But, launching a fruit soda drink that has caffeine seems to me, a little too niche.

Then again, it might do the things and re-invent the market the way Iphone did for mobile and Ipad did for tablet.

What is your thought? Can Kickstart create a new market?