"I don't actually do sport - but my sports nutrition is my first step towards a healthier lifestyle."

This perhaps you think this seems an easy question to answer? Senior Healthy Marketing Consultant,  Sam Waterfall contends the answer is anything but obvious.

Case in point:  Sports Nutrition

Who buys Sports Nutrition products? Sports people, right?

Not so fast, my friend.

Of course that’s a “yes and no” answer.  Sports people do consume the product, but it turns out that the Sports Nutrition market is being driven by non-sporty consumers.

According to Lorraine Heller writing for Food Navigator-usa.com on 3 June, “As global sales of sports nutrition products maintain healthy growth rates, one distinct - and unexpected - group of consumers is emerging as the main driver for the market, made up of people who are not necessarily interested in sports.”

Datamonitor found that these so called “lifestyle users” were “the last group to embrace sports nutrition products, but in the last few years they have become a crucial part of the market.”

You can read the full article by Lorraine Heller here.

The Healthy Marketing Model - Where should your brand be positioned in your category?

Of course if you’ve followed the work of The Healthy Marketing Team this will be no surprise to you.  The Healthy Marketing Model plots the development of any category.

Not only does it let you predict what will happen in your category, it will actually enable you to plan it!

When we’ve worked in sports nutrition, we’ve observed the progression from a purely laboratory / R&D driven world of sporting excellence towards a ’sport for all’ positioning - and guided our Clients to the emerging business opportunity.

The fact is that in all categories, the brands that win understand intially where they should be positioned in the market. With their positioning clear, they then target their consumers with an appealling concept - in other words, they tell them the exact story they want to hear.

In our case study of Sports Nutrition, the science-led ‘Expert’ or ‘Performance’ brands focus on proven breakthroughs from the  elite sports scene and are exclusively available via websites and specialist retailers.  But, as Datamonitor have reported, today the category has ‘trickled down’ to sell ‘non-sporty consumers’ the athletic-health / the athletic-performance / or even just the athletic-look (!) in the convenience of an RTD bottle.

Segment to win…

Who is really buying your product? Segment your market to target and grow.

So now that sports nutrition is for more than just sports people, Marketers are required to take a different approach to growth their brands and bring the sports nutrition lifestyle to the various distinct segments of sports-benefit seeking consumers: Refreshment seekers / Meal replacement seekers / Healthy snack seekers / Energy boost seekers / Image seekers / etc.

Beyond sports nutrition…

So think about your category. And my question to you is “Who is REALLY buying your product?”

Where is your category going? (and where can you drive your category to?) We’ve seen Nike and Adidas take the training shoe from the track to the street.  Your category is evolving too. Will you lead or follow? And if your product has a secondary target consumer, who are they? And how can you extend your brand to meet their needs?

To make this happen for your brands, contact sam@healthymarketingteam.com to arrange a no obligation, free initial consultation.