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DARREN ROVELL'S SPORTS INDEX

ABOUT SPORTS BIZ

Darren Rovell brings you his unique take on the business of sports: a multi-billion dollar global industry and obsession full of personalities and products. On Sports Biz, Darren will give you his up-to-date take on everything from salaries to endorsement deals to marketing and promotions, trades and tirades – in short, everything that makes sports so exciting.

Let's See What Junior Can Do

Published: Thursday, 20 Sep 2007 | 11:09 AM ET

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By: Darren Rovell
Sports Business Reporter

AMP 88 Racecar
Source: ampenergy.com
AMP 88 Racecar
I'm really loving the fact that Dale Jr. will be driving the No. 88 car next year with Amp on his hood instead of Mountain Dew. When it was first rumored that "Little E" would shed Budweiser for Mountain Dew, I wasn't that excited. Why? Because Mountain Dew is already the fourth largest soda brand in the U.S., behind Coke [KO Loading... () ], Pepsi and Diet Coke. If Earnhardt had Mountain Dew on his hood, we'd never know if he did anything for them. Like Budweiser, the brand was just too big before he arrived.

That's not the case for Amp, Pepsi's [PBG Loading... () ] energy drink. Here's why. According to Bevnet, Amp was the sixth best selling energy drink in 2006, in terms of dollars.

ENERGY DRINK MARKET

1.	Red Bull	42.6%
2.	Monster	14.4%
3.	Rockstar	11.4%
4.	Full Throttle	6.9%
5.	SoBe No Fear	5.4%
6.	Amp	3.6%

In terms of total retail sales, Amp has about a 5 percent share, according to "Beverage Digest," but the bottom line is it has a long way to go. And that's the best part.

When big-time athletes sign deals they always talk about aligning with blue-chip brands. The problem with this is that blue-chip brands are market leaders. So we never really can observe on the outside if the athletes are doing anything. Do we know if Tiger really did anything for American Express [AXP Loading... () ]? No. But we would if he signed with Joe's Credit Cards. Do I truly know if Tony Stewart has done anything for Home Depot [HD Loading... () ] or Jeff Gordon for DuPont? Really hard to tell.

Here, Earnhardt Jr. has aligned himself with the bigger Pepsi brand, which makes the alliance acceptable, but the smaller nature of Amp will allow us to truly see the power of a NASCAR sponsorship. My goal is to track the market share of Amp and see what happens.