SWOT and TOWS analysis

 SWOT Analysis

According to Tim Berry (2017), the point of a SWOT analysis is to help develop a business strategy, where all of the business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are assessed. Through this analysis, a business knows how to operate in the marketplace.

Strengths

-         KSI and Logan Paul's social media status

o   KSI has 13.2 million Instagram followers, 9 million followers on X (formerly Twitter) and a combined 40.4 million subscribers across two YouTube channels. Logan has 27 million followers on Instagram, 6.8 million followers on X and 23.5 million subscribers on YouTube. With a combined 119.9 million followers, KSI and Logan Pauls massive social media following allows them to market their company to millions of people for free every day.

-         Big Partners such as the UFC and Football clubs

o   In July 2022, PRIME signed their first deal with a football club, becoming the official hydration partner of Arsenal, the football team which KSI supports. Since then they have also gone on to sign deals with football clubs Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and FC Barcelona, as well as deals with the LA Dodgers and LA Lakers and the UFC. On the 8^th March 2024 it was announced that PRIME would be the first company to be a center ring sponsor of the WWE, and becoming the largest sponsorship deal in WWE’s history.

PRIME has also signed sponsorship deals with some of the biggest athletes in the world, including American Football quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, and Aston Villa and Switzerland women international footballer Alisha Lehmann.

-         Concentrated market

o   KSI and Logan Paul decided to enter a market where there aren’t too many big names. The biggest names in the hydration drink market are Lucozade, Powerade and Gatorade. These brands have established themselves as big names, with Lucozade being the official hydration partner of both the men’s and women’s England football teams, Powerade has a partnership with the Olympics and Gatorade is the official sports drink of the NFL. These brands already have some big partnerships, however there isn’t too much competition for sports drink partnerships in the future.  

 

Weaknesses

-         Over Supply of the product

o   When PRIME was first introduced, there was limited stock available. This led to some bottles being auctioned off for up to £3000 a bottle, according to LeicestershireLive (2022). Since then, however, PRIME has been made more easily accessible, with stores always stocked with both PRIME hydration and PRIME energy. One weakness that PRIME could have, is if the hype over the drink dies down too much, and more stock is being produced than sold.

-         Controversial ingredients for both hydration and energy drinks

o   According to Kansas City Chiefs sports dietitian Laslie Bonci, PRIME Hydration contains suboptimal carbohydrate content, and whilst it contains B vitamins, these are not necessary for a sports hydration drink as we don’t lose B vitamins when we sweat. New York City based dietitian Zenker adds that although artificial sweeteners are calorie free, the long term effects of artificial sweeteners still needs a lot of research. They also tend to be sweeter taste than sugar, making the drink more appealing to children. (Forbes, 2024)

-         Caffeine dangers

o   In its 12-ounce cans, PRIME Energy contains 200mg of caffeine. For reference, RedBull contains 80mg of caffeine in its 8.4-ounce cans, which would be roughly 115mg of caffeine in a 12-ounce can. A larger 16-ounce can of Rockstar contains 160mg caffeine. Whilst the FDA states that an intake of 400mg of caffeine a day is safe in a healthy adult, PRIME is very highly advertised towards children. (Forbes, 2024)

 

Threats

-         Other similar drinks

o   As stated above, there is already other sports hydration drinks available on the market that have been around a lot longer than PRIME. These brands have already established themselves and already have big partnerships in place. These other brands are trusted as they have been around long enough for people to know what is good and bad about them.

-         KSI and/or Logan Paul Leaving Prime

o   If KSI or Logan Paul decided that they no longer wanted to be a part of PRIME and left the company, the sales of the drink would drop massively. The reason that PRIME is so successful is because it is part owned by two of the biggest social media influences in the world, so one of them leaving would mean that the company would lose most of its marketing. There would also be the threat that should one of them leave, the other one might leave as well.

 

Opportunities

▫   Because of the global stardom of KSI and Logan Paul, the company has the opportunity to continue growing and creating new products.

o   Whilst KSI and Logan Paul continue to be such big names, the business has the potential to continue to grow. They are able to release limited edition drinks and continue to grow their range, whilst knowing that as long as they keep advertising the drinks, they will sell.

▫   Expanding the Range of drinks.

o   During the 2022/23 premier league season, KSI announced that if Arsenal won the premier league a special edition version of PRIME would be released. The idea had to be scrapped as Arsenal failed to win the premier league, however, things link this can continue to be trailed in the future. 

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TOWS Matrix

A TOWS matrix is a variation on the SWOT analysis. It is still "A distillation of the findings of the internal and external audits which draws attention to the critical organizational strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats facing the company" (Kotler et al, 2012), however it is more analytical than a SWOT analysis. TOWS considers the strengths and weaknesses within the context of the factors that generate opportunity and threat. 

Critical success factors look at the most important opportunities and the most serious threats. These can be seen in the table below. Each CSF is ranked, with 1 being the most important and 8 being the least important to bringing success to the company. 

TOWS	Threats  -KSI and/or Logan Paul leaving  - Saturated market  - Established competition	Opportunities  -Continue growing  -Expanding the range of drinks  -zero sugar alternatives
Weaknesses  - Over supply of products  - Controversial ingredients   - Caffeine dangers	-Ksi/Logan sign long term contracts on their loyalty (8)    - Improving the Science of the drink, making it heathier (7)	-Create zero sugar alternatives to combat controversial ingredients (5)  -Expand the range of drinks to release low caffeine energy drinks (6)
Strengths   - Significant Social media status  -Big partnerships  -The brand	-Using other big partnerships in case KSI or Logan leave (3)  -Using the social media status to gain an advantage over other similar drinks (4)	-KSI and Logan can use their large social media following to continue growing the brand (1)  -Using their big partnerships, PRIME can release limited edition drinks linked to these partnerships (2)

Berry, T., (2017) What Is a SWOT Analysis? 

LeicestershireLive, (2022) Prime Hydration being sold for £3000 a bottle by Leicestershire sellers on Ebay (online) available at: https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/prime-hydration-being-sold-3000-7981131

Forbes, (2024) Prime Drinks: Ingredients, Risks And Safety Concerns (Online) available at: https://www.forbes.com/health/nutrition/prime-drink/#:~:text=Many%20physicians%20have%20serious%20concern,parents%20to%20consider%2C%20says%20Malone.

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R. (2012) Marketing An Introduction, Pearson, 2nd Edition