Sports and fitness brand Powerade is moving into energy drinks with what it claims is the category's first 'dual energy' product.

Brand owner Coca-Cola Enterprises said the current market was split into two types of product those that stimulated and those that revived and that Powerade Energy would be the first to offer both benefits in one drink.

The lightly sparkling drink would provide 'sustained performance energy', it added, citing the drink's fast-absorbing glucose and caffeine and added B-vitamins.

Powerade Energy comes in two formats (375ml and 500ml PET bottles) and two flavours (Sparkling Berry and Sparkling Orange) and will be supported by a multimillion-pound marketing campaign and sampling ­activity when it launches early next month.

NPD over the past six months has already helped turn around the fortunes of Powerade, the worst-performing brand in the top ten sports and energy drinks in The Grocer's 2010 Top Products Survey last December. At that time, sales of Powerade had fallen 0.2% year-on-year [Nielsen 52w/e 2 October 2010].

However, following the launch of sugar and calorie-free Powerade Zero at the end of last year and the roll-out of isotonic Powerade ION4 in February, sales have leapt 19.5% in value and 24.7% in volume [Nielsen 52w/e 26 March 2011], ahead of the 15.2% growth in the value of the overall sports drinks market.

From May 1, a new Lucozade campaign from GSK will give consumers the chance to claim a free sports session.