Pepsico sports drink Gatorade launched a campaign in July to fuel the excitement and spirit that lives within all athletes to give any competitive sport a try – just as long as they can keep playing.
The campaign, developed in harness with creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, features a line-up of sporting super stars from Gatorade’s endorser stable – including WNBA’s Elena Delle Donne, NBA’s Zion Williamson, the NFL’s Todd Gurley, plus MLB’s Bryce Harper, track and field’s Sydney McLaughlin and other big name athletes – all willing to try their hand at sports that aren’t their own.
The campaign is spearheaded by a hero spot which runs across television and online across the brand’s own channels and also several of the stars’ personal social platforms.
Who’s #ReadyToPlay some baseball?!#GatoradePartner pic.twitter.com/qVAXo5MjN7
— Bryce Harper (@bryceharper3) July 14, 2020
A week after the hero spot launched, a #ReadyToPlay Challenge kicked off on TikTok with videos featuring the athletes drinking Gatorade and wearing their usual uniforms or gear and, with each new beat in the song, a new piece of equipment from a different sport is added.
Fans are invited to create their own #ReadyToPlay videos using the gear they have around the house to show just how excited they are to get out there and play.
As well as TikTok, the campaign also includes an interactive Snapchat social strand with a lens that enables Snapchatters to look like they are taking part in a video call with friends and the featured athletes.
Snapchat users are taken into a mock video chat with the athletes, who are discussing which sports they are most excited to play, and the users’ gear will continually change, adding that it is the first sports brand to use a lens in this manner.
Baseball slugger Bryce Harper, who opens the spot, said in the campaign’s launch PR statement: “Baseball players, from pros to Little Leaguers, have missed the game. This is a new reality we’re living in, but we’re all ready to get back out and play again. Gatorade knows this better than anyone, and it is having some fun celebrating sports by showing that athletes are willing to play just about anything at this point to get back at it.”
Comment:
We admire the lead spirit and craft of the traditional creative and the interactivity and personalised nature of the social platform strands.
‘Ready To Play’ follows on from the PepsiCo owned brand’s earlier 2020 GOAT campaign which was the first work from agency TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles after replacing previous incumbent VMLY&R.
At Activative we also loved Gatorade’s leveraging of the success of ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ docu-series during lockdown with a fresh version of its iconic ‘Be Like Mike’ commercial – its most famous ad ever (see case study).
Links:
Gatorade
https://www.youtube.com/user/GatoradeUK
https://twitter.com/gatoradeuk
https://www.facebook.com/gatoradeuk
https://www.pinterest.com/gatoradeuk/
TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles
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