Mother (energy drink)

Not be confused with the "Mother" variety of Full Throttle energy drinks, also made by Coca-Cola.

Mother

Type	Energy drink
Manufacturer	Coca-Cola Amatil
Country of origin	Australia
Introduced	2006
Variants	Mother Surge, Mother Big Shot, Mother Lemon Bite, Mother Low Carb, Mother V8 Powered
Related products	V, Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster

Mother is an energy drink marketed to Australians and New Zealanders by Coca-Cola. Mother was introduced in late 2006 to compete with the two leading energy drinks on the market, V and Red Bull, which then dominated the $151 million industry and accounted for 94% of sales. Mother remained unaltered on the market for 18 months. Reports emerged in mid-2008 that Coca-Cola had undertaken extensive market research to re-evaluate Mother after it failed to equal or exceed the popularity of V or Red Bull due to most consumers reporting the original formulation to be distasteful. Coca-Cola altered the formulation with respect to taste and addressed consumer dissatisfaction in regards to the ungenerous standard 250 mL can by doubling the size to 500 mL without affect on cost, thus exceeding V and Red Bull which remained 250 mL.^[1]

In late 2008, V released a 500ml can of its original product, and a new product called Samedi, in response to the rapidly growing market share held by the reformulated Mother Energy Drink. Recently in 2009, Red Bull released their "XXL" can, a 473mL can to compete with Mother.

Other sizes of Mother have started to appear on the market in 2010, such as a 375ml glass bottle, 300ml can as well as the "surge" and lemon flavour 500 ml variations that are all sharing a similar black livery, as well as a new can featuring an "8 cylinder energy system" with explanation to the "system" above the ingredients list.

In Europe the energy drink Relentless (drink), also sold by Coca-Cola is identical in taste to the standard Mother Energy Drink. Besides of different branding it also has a different colour.

Original version

Cans of the former Mother beverage

The original formulation contained 106 mg of caffeine, 33 g of sugar, fruit of the Açaí Palm, guarana, ginseng, 68% apple juice, 5% lemon juice, carbonated water, fructose and malt extract for each 250 mL can.

Reformulation and relaunch

Coca-Cola announced the reformulation and relaunch of Mother in June 2008 after 18 months on the market announcing the new product will be made available from July 1. Changes announced include a new taste ("extensively researched with consumers"), a larger 500 ml can, and a change of packaging colour from aluminium to black and red, the color of the drink from yellow to green, along with a A$3 million marketing campaign.

The primary focus of both the campaign and the new packaging is the reformulated taste of the drink, proclaimed on the packaging as 'New - tastes nothing like the old one!'.

Since then Coca-Cola has launched a 4x500mL Mother take-home pack. Mother Surge was launched in July 2009, an orange flavoured variation with 5% juice and the same mix of Taurine, Caffeine and Guarana. Mother was launched into a 355mL glass bottle in August 2009. And most recently a 'Mother of a mixer' 250mL can was launched for bars/clubs in October 2009 followed by Convenience Stores in April 2010. In 2010 330ml Cans are stocked in some vending machines along side other Coke Brands. In May 2010, a 150mL variety, 'Mother Big Shot' was released, containing "double guarana and taurine... vs Mother regular per 100mL" according to the can. From November 2010, Mother released both a Low Carb and Lemon Bite variety of the drink.

Recently, Coca-Cola launched a new mother Energy drink variant to the market, featuring "Fuel Cap Bottle". This drink is similar to the new mother taste and boasts mothers "8 energy ingredients" as the main push.

Nutritional Information (Reformulated)

Average quantities per 500ml Serve ^[2]

• Energy: 975 kJ (233 cal)
• Protein: 0 g
• Fat, total: 0 g
  • Saturated: 0 g
• Carbohydrates: 52 g
  • Sugars: 52 g
• Sodium: 260 mg^[3]
• Caffeine: 160 mg (Guarana extract)
• Niacin (B₃): 9.0 mg
• Pantothenic Acid (B₅): 3.3 mg
• Vitamin B₆: 1.0 mg
• Vitamin B₁₂: 0.5 µg
• Taurine: 2000 mg
• Glucuronolactone: 600 mg
• Inositol: 60 mg

References

1. ^ Mother of energy drink battles is on, Sydney Morning Herald 8 January 2007
2. ^ A can of Mother: The Mother of all energy drinks, purchased from Coles Supermarkets, October 18th, 2008
3. ^ A can of Mother: The Mother of all energy drinks, purchased from Coles Supermarkets, August 7, 2010 (Sodium Content lowered from previous 272mg)