Messi, Suarez & Jesus Front Gatorade Russia 2018 'Everything Changes' Ambush & Soccer-Specific Product Launch

Close friends and FC Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez become feisty and fierce competitors in Gatorade’s largest every global campaign leveraging/ambushing Russia 2018.

The new campaign, which was developed with agency TBWA/Chiat/Day Las Angeles and which rolled out more than a month ahead of the start of the FIFA World Cup, is the sports drink giant’s biggest international brand campaign in its 50-year history.

The initiative, called ‘Everything Changes’, celebrates a key first for Gatorade as it promotes the release of a new product designed for a specific sport: Gatorade Football Energy.

The PepsiCo owned sports drink is leveraging spiking soccer interest around the tournament and ambushing the official rights of fierce rival and long-time FIFA sponsor Coca-Cola.

This campaign see Gaterade aims to make a big move into the global world of football with creative led by an international spot that juxtaposes the two attackers’ friendship at club level and rivalry in international football.

This friends/rivals idea between Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez sits at the heart of the creative idea: as the Barca based camaraderie evolves into respective national team (Argentina and Uruguay) competitive rivalry.

Gatorade as a product is thus positioned as the one constant amidst these changing loyalty dynamics.

The creative run across television and the brands digital and social channels from YouTube,

to Twitter.

Everything is about to change between #LeoMessi and @LuisSuarez9.
Stay tuned! #Gatorade #EverythingChanges #GatoradePartner pic.twitter.com/DGkrfXAHx1

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 23, 2018

In addition to a longer form, 2-minute and 30-second version,

there is support from additional shorter cuts and edits,

and a 30-second Spanish ad.

The brand is also running an additional spot starring Brazil and Man City attacker Gabriel Jesus.

Football fans around the world will also see campaign creative assets across print, digital and social media channels across Latin America, Western Europe, Asia, Mexico and the USA.

“Luis and I are very competitive; we always want to win, so we put aside our strong friendship when we compete against each other,” Messi said in a statement released at the campaign launch.

“Taking care of our bodies is very important and we focus on proper sports nutrition and the hydration. Gatorade is our key partner who helps us in all this.”

“It happens every now and then because of the international calendar that they happen to play each other on opposing teams in one of the biggest rivalries,” said Tiago Pinto, Gatorade global marketing director.

“We thought this was a great angle for a brand like ours to engage in this conversation with our consumers, that you have to prepare to be the best at any time because in one situation you can be playing with your teammate helping him play better, but at a later date he’s on the opposing side.”

Further football based activation within its World Cup work sees Gatorade offer consumers and soccer supporters a chance to participate in the campaign.

For the third consecutive year, the brand is hosting its annual Gatorade 5v5 Football Tournament.

This annual tournament spans 2000 teams from 19 countries in Latin America, North America and Europe and the best performers have a chance to compete in the Gatorade 5v5 Global Championship in Barcelona in May.

Comment:

Messi and Suárez seem a natural fit for Gatorade’s competitive idea: after all, they are known to have a strong, real-life friendship, while their national teams are indeed bitter rivals.

Pinto also stated that Gatorade has been working closely with global football teams in recent years, including FC Barcelona, to develop a soccer-specific product.

“We identified this need over the years because this is a game that is quite different from our heritage of American sports where there are a lot of stops and a lot of opportunities for these guys to keep hydrated and energized. The sport of football is different,” Pinto said.

Gatorade Football Energy, which comes in lemon, mango and orange flavors, will roll out in the USA, Mexico and Brazil in Spring/Summer 2018 (with plans for further expansion in Latin America in the near future).

Links:

Gatorade

https://www.gatorade.com/

https://twitter.com/gatorade

https://www.youtube.com/gatorade

https://www.facebook.com/Gatorade/

http://gatorade.tumblr.com/

https://www.instagram.com/gatorade/

TBWA/Chiat/Day Las Angeles

http://tbwachiatdayla.com

Russia 2018

http://welcome2018.com/en/