Someone has a new idea for a sports/fitness drink on the market, then what?

Being a keen fitness enthusiast, I have come up with a new idea for a sports drink. It's different to anything else as such on the Irish market at this moment in time.

I just want to know the steps involved in finding out if this option is viable or not. What is involved in creating it to getting it to the market?

antoinolachtnai

First of all, is it really that unique? Genuinely? Is it something truely new, or a product with a particular positioning? (There is nothing wrong with unique positioning, but it's not the same as having a unique product.)

basically, figure out if you can find distribution channels for it that are interested. You might need market research to convince the channel of this.

Getting into the supermarkets and convenience stores would cost a lot of money and/or you would have to be very convincing. Maybe there is a less expensive way to get into specialized sports stores, but that means that you really won't have access to mass markets and you would still have a hard sell. The lower volume means that the price has to be a lot higher or the gross margins a lot lower.

Consider how you would market the product. I would say that endorsement is probably the way to go for a sports drink.

Of course you have to make and package the stuff too. But that's quite a small part of it.

I personally wouldn't think there is much future in a sports drink aimed at the Irish market alone, but I could be wrong.

If the same thing is available in another territory, it might make sense to become the agent for the product in Ireland, rather than reinventing the product.

Great points thanks for that.

The product itself is not a new invention or anything like it. It's a product that is not available in Ireland. It's similar to other products on the market in the sense that there are "sports drinks" for sale but the product I have in mind is definitely a superior product to the likes of Lucozade or Powerade etc. Whether it would have the same appeal as these drinks, I doubted. But there is a market for it. I definitely believe that.

shoutman

If you are thinking of something along the lines of protein milk, like they have in the states then I would say not to bother.

There are supplement store owners who would import the stuff, if they thought it would sell.

Something like muscle milk would have a very small market in Ireland imo as most people who use protein supplements don't see mixing shakes themselves as being too much of a hindrance.

I'm only using muscle milk as an example as I can't think of what else you would be thinking of.

I'd imagine that producing a sport drink would not be a hugely expensive process. Do-it-yourself lucozade sport consists of glucose powder (€2 in all pharmacy's for a big tub), mi wadi or similar cordial, tap water and a sprinkle of salt.
Marketing and product positioning would surely be where a lot of money would have to be spent unless you think it is a strong niche where people would actively search for it.
If it isn't then you are probably wasting your time if you think you can actively compete with the big names who have huge budgets, with a similar product to theirs.

Not muscle milk or protein milk(?).

With what I have in mind, definitely think there is a market for it, at the very least instantly accepted by fitness enthusiasts nationwide.

shoutman

If it is available abroad, then surely it would be easier (and probably more realistic if you don't have capital or experiance in the area) to just simply import and market it over here?

Ok I have got some progress. The drink I was thinking would be perfect over here is already in existence. It is relatively new and is available in the US.

Does anyone have any information on being an agent etc ? What are the profit margins like?

BenjAii

Deleted User wrote: »

Does anyone have any information on being an agent etc ? What are the profit margins like?

That would depend on whatever you negotiated with the company and would vary.

From the US companies POV, they would probably be looking for established players in retail distribution as overseas agents. I'm guessing you are not established, in which case you would need to work on a killer sales & marketing plan before approaching them and convincing them to go with an unknown over the usual route.

No way my man, I'm not established.

How would I go about doing that? Should I make one up and send it to them and try get them to talk to me?

shoutman

Pretty much yea. I'm guessing you have no real experience with drawing up marketing plans or anything like that? Maybe someone could reccommend some good books to look at?

I have experience writing business plans - have 3 almost completed plans at the minute and have written marketing plans before in college. I'm sure it would manageable but would still love a book or two to read if anyone has any plans, otherwise Google is my best friend for this one.

Mickk

shoutman wrote: »

Something like muscle milk would have a very small market in Ireland imo as most people who use protein supplements don't see mixing shakes themselves as being too much of a hindrance.

I'm only using muscle milk as an example as I can't think of what else you would be thinking of.

I hope you are wrong! Funny you should use muscle milk as an example, I have the rights to that exact product and all the cytosport products!! In fairness tho I am in good company, for the first time ever a sports supplement has broken into the mainstream market in the us, Pepsi has bought the rights to the muscle milk ready to drinks so where ever you see pepsi you will soon see musclemilk (in the states anyway for now).

In terms of how to go about getting rights, money talks. The way I put it to companies is, if I am going to spend 20 or 30k with you and advertise to build your brand in Ireland, I am not going to do it so that all my competitors learn about you, see the popularity of the products and buy from you...

The other thing that really stands in your favour is Ireland. In the eyes of most americans its not really a significant market, its not as if they will lose out on millions if they give you the rights for ireland and you don't do that well, as it stands they aren't selling any here so anything is a bonus.

Mickk, that's the sort of optimism and risk taking attitude I'm talking about. In other words, I embrace it!

Mickk, do you need a supplement shop to begin with in order to be an agent?

Mickk

No supp store needed, if you have money to spend who really cares. If you had a product selling in Ireland and someone contacted you from Mauritius contacted you wanting to buy it and look after all the shipping would you really be bothered?

Awesome thanks for the tips.

I have been thinking, and instead of being an agent, why don't I make an Irish version of the product since the existing one does not have the strongest brand presence over here at all anyway.

Does anyone know who I would talk to/(someone who won't rob my idea - i.e. not lucozade sport company) to get samples of this product made. I have no idea in chemistry/science so I may need someone who can do this for me.

byrne0f56789

I don't know much about sports drinks but I was just reading your posts and thought I would contribute some "brain storms".

1) Go direct to sports clubs (GAA, Soccer, Rugby, Boxing etc.) Ask them to retail it for you and give them a generous price.

2) Look at the alcoholic mixer market. Recently, I asked for a Red Bull at a bar and got a Burn. Energy drinks seem to be more to do with alcohol in Ireland than sports. Is there a drink that you could mix with your energy drink and give it a name? Remember the "Fat Frog" phenomenon from a couple of years ago. In the US they have "Crunk Juice" which is Red Bull and Hennessy.

3) What about going down the "intellectual performance" route by targeting student unions and doing the same strategy as the sports clubs.

You probably were thinking of these anyway and I don't know a thing about sports drinks. Just thought I'd contribute.

Really appreciate your ideas and input, thanks.

antoinolachtnai

Deleted User wrote: »

Awesome thanks for the tips.

I have been thinking, and instead of being an agent, why don't I make an Irish version of the product since the existing one does not have the strongest brand presence over here at all anyway.

Does anyone know who I would talk to/(someone who won't rob my idea - i.e. not lucozade sport company) to get samples of this product made. I have no idea in chemistry/science so I may need someone who can do this for me.

You could talk to this crowd: http://fpdc.dit.ie/

Honestly, though, you are in very deep water here. The whole food and taste business is pretty sophisticated. The big players (like GlaxoSmithKline, who make Lucozade) have acres of offices and labs full of people thinking about this stuff. That's not to say they have all or even most of the answers.

This is worth looking at for a bit of insight into how sophisticated the industry was, even in the 70's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIiAAhUeR6Y

It is worth reading a bit about the history of red bull too:

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Red-Bull-GmbH-Company-History.html

Yeah but I'm pretty sure there is a market for everything. In it's own right. I'm not going to outsell Lucozade. I'd like to try it out, see if people appreciate it and see where it takes me. I have other things I want to do/am doing. But I'd like to try make it happen, it has it's place in the market and I know people will appreciate it. Thanks for the links and tips, will check it later.

That DIT link looks great, I just got laughed out of the fitness forum for wanting to speak to a nutritionist/dietician or even thinking of the possibility that one may browse the fitness section! Negativity all round in that forum!

I'll contact the DIT crowd and see what can be done.

Mickk

Got to say I think you are nuts. It all comes down to economies of scale, you might save40-50% of the final price of the drink but that will be after 10k worth of r&d developing the drink, if you are lucky another 1-2k on a decent package design and the same again on a website for it, I don't know too much about label claims but I'd imagine you have to get some sort of authorisation and prove what is in the drink which would be another few k and then a minimum order of around 10k bottles per flavour (which would probably take the factory less than a day!).

Do you have and want to risk that sort of money in bringing a drink to market?
You said a drink just like what you want to make exist in the states, they have done all the hard work for you, why not just contact them, buy a pallet or two and see how it goes...

Mickk

Mickk wrote: »

Got to say I think you are nuts. It all comes down to economies of scale, you might save40-50% of the final price of the drink but that will be after 10k worth of r&d developing the drink, if you are lucky another 1-2k on a decent package design and the same again on a website for it, I don't know too much about label claims but I'd imagine you have to get some sort of authorisation and prove what is in the drink which would be another few k and then a minimum order of around 10k bottles per flavour (which would probably take the factory less than a day!).

Do you have and want to risk that sort of money in bringing a drink to market?
You said a drink just like what you want to make exist in the states, they have done all the hard work for you, why not just contact them, buy a pallet or two and see how it goes...

Not nuts....just over ambitious.

I'm working on something, I'm going to try contact them and get 45 minutes of their time to present to them instead to see if they will be interested. I'll then fly over if they let me and present to them and see how it goes!