What Flagship Energy Drink Should You Buy? Feasibility Report By: Michael Ruge, Rance Schindler, and Brandon Sullivan

Executive Summary In this report, we examined six flagship energy drinks found at Walmart to find which energy drink was best for consumers. These energy drinks were: Rockstar ®, Monster ®, Red Bull ®, Full Throttle ®, Nos ®, and Amp ®. In order to determine what drink was best, 20 participants were given a survey asking how important taste, sugar content, caffeine content, calorie content, and cost were in finding the right energy drink. These participants were also given a blind taste test where they were given a cup of each of the six energy drinks. The participants were then asked rate each drink. Based on what criteria consumers found the most important and what energy drink tasted the best, we recommend Monster ® to consumers looking for a great flagship energy drink.

Introduction: What is a Flagship Energy Drink? When we use the term “flagship”, we are referring to the main, original, or pioneering flavor of the energy drink.

Introduction: Flagship Energy Drinks Found at Walmart  Red Bull ®  Full Throttle ®  Rockstar ®  Monster ®  Nos ®  Amp ®

Introduction: Criterion The criteria we are using to determine what the best flagship energy drink is:  Taste  Cost  Sugar Content  Caffeine Content  Calorie Content

Obtaining Data: Survey and Taste Test  To determine what the best flagship energy drink was, we decided to have a survey and a taste test. On the survey, we asked our participants to rank on a scale of 1 to 10 how important taste, sugar content, caffeine content, calorie content, and cost was to them (1 being not important and 10 being very important).  Next, we had our participants drink small samples of energy drinks. Each energy drink was poured into a cup that was either labeled A, B, C, D, E, or F, to prevent personal bias towards a certain brand affecting the taste test.  As our participants drank each sample, we had them rate the energy drink’s taste on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being bad and 10 being amazing).

Obtaining Data: Survey and Taste Test

Obtaining Data: Nutritional Facts and Cost Energy DrinkCaffeine per 16 oz. Calories per 16 oz Sugar per 16 oz. Cost per 16 oz. can Red Bull ® 154 mg22056g$3.68 Full Throttle ® 160 mg22058g$1.58 Rockstar ® 160 mg28062g$1.58 Monster ® 160 mg21054g$1.78 Nos ® 160 mg21053g$1.58 Amp ® 142 mg22058g$1.48

Obtaining Data: Averages

Calculations: Weights  Weights corresponding to the importance of each criteria had to be determined. Each weight of each criteria was calculated by adding together the average score of each criteria, then dividing each criteria’s average score by this sum.  Equation: (Criteria Average / Sum of Criterion Averages) * 100

Calculations: Weights (continued) CriteriaAverage ScoreWeight Taste9.0530% Sugar Content4.816% Caffeine Content5.919% Calorie Content3.5512% Cost723%

Calculations: Points per Criteria  Each energy drink ranked from 1 to 6 for each criteria (taste, sugar content, caffeine content, calorie content, and cost), with 1 being the lowest score and 6 being the highest.  In the event that the drinks had the same amount of sugar, caffeine, or calories, we used the standard competition ranking system.  Example of this system: Three drinks have the same lowest cost, meaning all three will be given a score of 6. The next drink with the lowest cost will be given a score of 3.

Calculations: Points per Criteria (continued) Energy Drink Taste Ranking Sugar Content Ranking Caffeine Content Ranking Calorie Content Ranking Cost Ranking Red Bull ® Full Throttle ® Rockstar ® Monster65462 Nos ® Amp ® 23646

Calculations: Weighted Scores Energy DrinkTaste (30%) Sugar Content (16%) Caffeine Content (19%) Calorie Content (12%) Cost (23%) Total Weighted Score Red Bull ® Raw Score Weighted Score Full Throttle ® Raw Score Weighted Score Rockstar ® Raw Score Weighted Score Monster ® Raw Score Weighted Score Nos ® Raw Score Weighted Score Amp ® Raw Score Weighted Score

Conclusion  We found that the most important factor in finding an energy drink is taste (30%), with cost as the second most important factor (23%).  With each criteria’s weight considered, the drink with the highest weighted score is Monster ®. Monster ® had the highest scores in taste and calorie content, and high scores overall.  The drink with the lowest weighted score is Rockstar ®.

Recommendation Our group recommends that consumers buy Monster ® when looking for the best flagship energy drink because Monster ® had the highest weighted score of the flagship energy drinks found at Walmart.