Sprint star Usain Bolt has partnered with Gatorade on a stunning life story animation ahead of the Summer Olympics called ‘The Boy Who Learned To Fly’.
The seven-minute video, created by MoonBot Studios, explores the athlete’s journey from dreaming kid to world record holding global sprint superstar in 3D.
The story loosely traces Bolt’s life: from his early school days in rural Jamaica, through his introduction to athletics, the challenge of expectation and becoming the icon of the sport.
The campaign was initially teased socially on the back of Gatorade’s core Rio 2016 #LoveOfSports initiative back in early June,
Coming July 18. The Boy Who Learned To Fly @usainbolt #LoveOfSports pic.twitter.com/atpuQccdYn
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 10, 2016
while the core film was then released in full on 19 July on the brand’s YouTube channel,
and across its other social sites,
Introducing the story of @UsainBolt, The Boy Who Learned to Fly. #WinFromWithin #LoveOfSporthttps://t.co/0lm1XqTiu2
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) July 19, 2016
as well as on Bolt’s personal platforms.
It's here! Check out my story, "The Boy Who Learned To Fly" #WinFromWithin #Gatorade https://t.co/pkKboH3r7y
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) July 19, 2016
The campaign also fronts Gatorade’s home page http://www.gatorade.com/
The PepsiCo-owned brand is using its athlete ambassador relationship with Bolt – who aims to become the first man to win 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay gold at three consecutive Olympics – to leverage interest in the Rio Olympics without holding any official event rights and to ambush IOC sponsor and fierce rival Coca-Cola’s Olympic marketing programme.
Interestingly, the Gatorade Bolt campaign adapts to marketing rule changes around the Olympics which opened up new opportunities for non-official brands: amendments to rule 40 still prohibit brands from using the Olympic IP, but ease the path for brands running participating athlete ambassador led campaigns.
Comment
Bolt also was one of the handful of featured athletes fronting Gatorade’s umbrella Rio 2016 ‘Love Of Sport’ campaign in which the sports drink brand’s star endorsers – who also include fellow Olympians like Serena Williams – are inspired and encouraged by their younger selves (see case study).
“Everyone should have opportunities to dream.” – @usainbolt. Fuel your love forward: https://t.co/ArUH5DiMVi pic.twitter.com/kOjoF8JqZA
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) July 16, 2016
Indeed, when it comes to the Olympics Bolt is big business (as illustrated by the 507,932 YouTube views on the official Gatorade channel in the first 24 hours since the spot was posted) and the Jamaican sprint star is also currently featuring in Rio 2016 related work from official sponsors such as Nissan (see case study) and ambushers like Virgin Media (see case study).
Animated activation around Rio 2016 already looks to be a key creative trend as illustrated by the recent release of the BBC’s Olympic trailer (which animates not one athletes story, but the story of life on earth).
Links
Gatorade YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/whatsg
Gatorade Twitter:
Gatorade Web:
Gatorade Google+:
https://plus.google.com/u/1/108751617052272275707/videos
MoonBot Studios:
