A new Gatorade film, debuting ahead of the new basketball season, features WNBA star Elena Delle open up about her relationship with her sister and her hard-won, family-focused perspective on life.
The league’s official sports drink continues its ‘Win From Within’ idea with a campaign focusing on Chicago Sky WNBA forward Elena Delle Donne’s relationship with her sister Lizzie.
The 120-second spot, developed in harness with usual creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, tenderly tells tells the story of why the 2015 league MVP dropped out of her U-Conn scholarship earlier in her career so she could spend more time with her sibling who has cerebral palsy and can’t see or hear.
Through this sisterly connection and Lizzie’s ‘love for the wind’, Elena rediscovered her love for the game.
Called ‘For the Wind’, the spot was initially posted on YouTube in the second half of September ahead of the new season,
The campaign is also being amplified across all the brand’s digital and social channels.
A love for the wind inspired a love for the game. Watch @De11eDonne's #WinFromWithin story. pic.twitter.com/3hyg0EfxgG
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) September 16, 2016
‘Everyone thinks I came home to help her, but she was the one helping me, getting me out of the worst rut of my life,’ says Delle Donne.
‘She gives me perspective.’
A touching, sentimental story about fate, practicality and relationships – the ad is stunningly shot.
The narrative sees the athlete reflects on the sheer joy her sister gets from something as simple as the feeling from a gust of wind.
‘You don’t focus on what you don’t have,’ concludes Delle Donne.
‘You celebrate what you do.’
Gatorade also created a partner piece revolving around a wind-powered art installation by artist Michael Murphy.
‘Using 1,606 wind spinners and a 20-by-20-foot metal structure, the sculpture creates a unique perceptual experience embodying the perspective brought by Elena’s big sister Lizzie’s love of the wind,’ explained the Gatorade PR statement accompanying the campaign.
This companion strand was featured in a behind-the-scenes spot called ‘For the Wind, An Art Installation’.
Thank you for such an amazing piece Michael Murphy and @Gatorade #winfromwithin https://t.co/HB17PJiz1G
— Elena Delle Donne (@De11eDonne) September 20, 2016
Comment:
We fell the film avoids any aspect of oversimplification, sentimentality and exploitation because at its core this is a very personal, authentic and humanising spot.
And not even a mention of the link between the player’s love of the wind and the Windy City nickname of the home city of her team the Chicago Sky.
With 3,504,989 YouTube views in a few weeks, the engagement the spot has generated is a testament to the film’s beauty and the strong sentiment of the story, as well as the ever increasing reach and popularity of the WNBA.
Indeed, Gatorade’s ‘Win from Within’ work has already produced several fantastically powerful, female-focused campaigns from athletes like Serena Williams (see case study) and Abbey Wambach (see case study).
Links:
Gatorade YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/whatsg
Gatorade Website:
Gatorade Twitter:
Gatorade Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Gatorade
TBWA\Chiat\Day:
