Gatorade "Replay" Campaign

Photograph by Edward C. Clougherty

Gatorade "Replay" Campaign

by Bo Walbrick

One more play, one more shot, one more game—a second chance at the glory days of their youth is a dream that lives in the heart of any former high school athlete. Gatorade, makers of the most popular sports drink in history, has been making some of those dreams a reality for a few American men over thirty.

Gatorade launched its Replay campaign as part of an effort to motivate men in their thirties, who used to consume the sports drink in their youth, adopt healthier, more active lifestyles. The study was based upon the statistic that 70% of U.S. adults in their thirties do not exercise enough.

Now into its third season of the campaign, Gatorade has sponsored three separate Replay games. In the first season of the campaign, Gatorade staged a rematch of a 1993 high school football game between teams from Easton, Pennsylvania, and Phillipsburgh, New Jersey. The 1993 contest ended in a 7-7 tie.

In the second season of the Replay campaign, Gatorade staged a rematch of two high school basketball teams from Michigan who played one another in 1999. In 1999, the game was abandoned due to one of the players getting his throat sliced by a skate.

In the recently played third season competition of the Replay campaign, Gatorade staged a rematch of two Chicago high school basketball teams whose game in 2000, ended in controversy.

The campaign has been a major success to say the least. Not only has it inspired many men over thirty to adopt more active lifestyles, but Gatorade has seen increases in sales of its products since the campaign began.

Gatorade created a website for the campaign where Replay fans can watch webisodes from each of the three seasons. They also posted workout videos inspired the workouts of the men who competed in the Replay games. A Facebook application was also created that helps fans reunite with former high school teammates.

In 2010, at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, Gatorade was given the grand prix award in the promotional and public relations categories. The multi-faceted campaign was developed by ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.

The overall campaign concept is brilliant in its own right, but the use of the website with videos of the Replay seasons along with workout videos is an effective public relations tool. Also, the implementation of the Facebook application is a great way to tap into social media and create an interactive communication channel for people to get more involved.

Diversity in new Gatorade campaign

By Brian Russell

Gatorade has started up a new marketing campaign this year to highlight their new logo, the "G". For many people and athletes alike, Gatorade is a must have when going to the gym or a nice recovery drink after a workout. Looking on almost any sideline in professional sports you can see the impact of Gatorade; from towels, water bottles, and jugs to sweatbands and gym bags.

Their newest campaign introduces the logo along with many professional athletes from the past and even present day sports icons. Older commercials for Gatorade in the past have had athletes sweating out Gatorade to scientists (who were old white males) describing how and why they came up with Gatorade. This newest campaign has caught my eye, along with many other bloggers and youtube fans for the diverse group of athletes and sports icons.

The first thing that caught my attention was the narrator, and no it wasn't Morgan Freeman, but to my surprise it was none other than Grammy award winner Lil Wayne. At first I thought this was a bit random, since he is not a professional athlete or to my knowledge have any previous links to Gatorade. Then it hit me, Lil Wayne (being a famous figure in pop culture) is conveying the message to today's youth that all of these athletes over the years used Gatorade and this made them what they are today.

As a sports fan, I personally think this is a great look at people from all different backgrounds and time periods and hope the campaign continues with individual commercials of these athletes later in the series. By having Lil Wayne and the large array of sports icons, I believe this reaches a very diverse audience from young to old and will be a great campaign for Gatorade in 2009.