In the 1960s, Gatorade (Gatorade) was a side-sponsored beverage and could not cause any turmoil in the hearts of consumers. It was hard for people at that time to believe that Gatorade is today a world-leading sporty drink.
Biofreeze is now facing a similar situation. It is a brand of antiseptic ointment products under Performance Health, called Bibing Qingliang Soothing in Chinese. But the brand is also very likely to open up the mass market with its potential along a similar development trajectory to Gatorade. Michael McGoohan, chief marketing officer of Biofreeze's parent company, said: "Our development model is very similar to the development model of Gatorade 30 years ago. The only difference is that Gatorade started with sideline sponsorship, while we started with fitness venues and clinics. Now, we are also using the sports marketing to make consumers trust our brand." Before 2016, Biofreeze was only sold in the dominant clinical channels. According to McGauhan, it has been the number one brand of clinical recommendation for 25 years. Team doctors or physical therapists will choose Biofreeze for amateur athletes, and Biofreeze for top professional athletes.
However, "the majority of consumers have not been told" how effective the painkiller products are.
In 2016, private equity firm Madison Dearborn acquired Performance Health, and Biofreeze's retail began. The company sells Biofreeze gels, sprays and patches on its website, as well as stores such as CVS, Target and Walmart. But the development of retail requires increasing brand awareness, and Performance Health hopes to achieve this through sports marketing.
McGowhan also said: "We refer to Gatorade's philosophy - if consumers see excellent American snowboarders like Sean White are using a product, they will think that 'the product that works for them is also useful to me.' In addition to giving consumers such product awareness, I will also use facts to prove the true quality of the product to them and let them understand the product usage of participating teams and athletes."
For this reason, Biofreeze has conducted a large number of sports sponsorship activities. According to McGauhan, data show that baseball and basketball are the most indexed sports, which is determined by the distribution of target populations for young and energetic athletes. Subsequently, Biofreeze signed a cooperation agreement with five MLB teams including New York Yankees .
At the same time, it also vigorously promotes cooperation with NBA. In September 2018, Biofreeze signed a multi-year agreement with Portland Trail Blazers to become its jersey patch sponsor. Biofreeze also signed a separate agreement with the team's star player Lillard.
Subsequently, in September 2019, Biofreeze expanded its partnership with Golden State Warriors to become the title sponsor of the team's new training facilities and training grounds. "The NBA is American, and it is a star sport," McGowhan said. He declined to disclose the amount of the deal the company reached with the Trail Blazers and the Warriors, but said that "the huge investment in the NBA is reasonable."
McGowhan said that since the company is privately owned, it is inconvenient to disclose profit and loss status and financial data. Biofreeze data shows that its core consumers spend the longest time running the sport. This shows that the brand can strengthen its marketing efforts in various running sports or competitions, such as strengthening partnerships with large marathons held in cities such as New York, , Chicago, and more than 30 local running competitions across the country.
McGauhan said experiential marketing is the focus. For example, in the past 10 years, Biofreeze is the first brand to add to the schedule in New York City and Chicago Marathon, where runners can spray Biofreeze products through NASCAR -style supply stations.
McGowhan noted that this encouragement is set at the 20-mile mark, as marathon athletes usually start to feel fatigue or pain after completing this distance.This makes Biofreeze the most acclaimed brand among New York City marathon runners—its favorability even higher than title sponsor TCS. "They are not very happy about it, but we think we have brought real help to the athletes." The continued use of
products on the sidelines is the only way to expand the marketing partnership. In response, McGauhan said the company has partnerships with 90% of its professional team, 80% of its colleges and 60% of its high schools. He also said that although it is the second largest brand in its class, the household penetration rate is still only a little over 4%, and there is a lot of room for improvement in consumers' brand impressions.
"Are we going to do more sports marketing? I think what we need to do is to further deepen the existing projects and continue to tell real brand stories." Stories told by Biofreeze's athlete partners, such as Lillard, Sean White and tennis player Stephens , will make the brand more penetrating.
There is also eighth-grade science teacher Jonathan Clark, who is considered one of the best slam dunks on the planet because of his extensive spread of those related videos. McGauhan said their company also maintains partnerships with more than 100 fitness celebrities, including CrossFit athletes and SoulCycle coaches. "We see sports as an activation tool that can make our brand reach a wider media coverage," said McGowhan. Marc Bluestein, president and CEO of Aquarius Sports and Entertainment, a marketing firm at
, said that high-visibility forms of marketing such as jersey patches, athletes or game sponsorships are crucial for brands like Biofreeze to increase brand awareness, as consumers may not have heard of the brand before. "The product attracts a lot of trainers and team physicians in different places to understand its value proposition - and these people will continue to popularize it to the general public," said Brustein. "Just Gatorade once did, when Biofreeze connects its products with products used by athletes, Biofreeze's products will not be ignored by consumers. Currently, BODYARMOR is doing the same."
Biofreeze recently appointed Droga5, the world's top creative agent, as its media and record creative agent, with new marketing content expected to be completed in early 2020.
MGHAN said that while Biofreeze entered the field of sports marketing, it did not ignore its traditional clinical field - it will continue to push its products into this field and carry out corresponding knowledge education activities around the products.
However, the new audience has given it new ambitions with new platforms, making it no longer considered to be simply related to sports injuries. "We also want to celebrate the achievements of people and help them set goals and create new glory," McGauhan said. "This is completely different from the brand task of helping people speak out and get rid of pain."
also needs to learn another lesson from Gatorade's marketing process: Although Gatorade locks on them as the consumer body by encouraging young athletes to establish lofty sports competition goals, a large part of Gatorade's actual sales come from people who are not very active in competitive sports like construction workers but value the actual quality of the product.
McGowhan said: "Our strengths come from our honest character, innovation ability and courage to take risks. We are very confident in the areas we are currently investing in and have found ways to make the brand more influential."
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