Gatorade sports endorsers are visited by their younger selves in the TV spot that spearheads Gatorade’s inspirational and youth sports support ‘For The Love Of Sport’ Olympic marketing campaign.
The Pepsi-owned energy drink is using its flagship brand ambassadors – including Serena Williams,Usian Bolt, Paul George and April Ross – to ambush official Olympic sponsor and fierce rival Coca-Cola’s Powerade at Rio 2016.
The campaign, developed in harness with agency TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, is led by a 70-second TV commercial, directed by Rick Famuyiwa and titled ‘Never Lose The Love’ which sees the stars’ younger selves motivate them through pre-Olympic with enthusiasm and humour.
First posted online on 14 June and then airing on TV in the US, the idea is that inside every athlete there is a kid who fell in love with sports and never looked back and the very best stars have never lose that love.
The main ad is supported by a set of online ‘Fuel The Love Forward’ documentary style videos telling the story of how each individual endorser fell in love with their sport: including ‘Usain’s Story’
‘Serena’s Story’,
and ‘April’s Story’.
With production by Superprime, editorial by Rock Paper Scissors, VFX by Eight VFX, colour by The Mill, plus sound design & mix from 740 Sound (the track is ‘Young At Heart’), the films are amplified supported socially carrying the #LoveOfSports hashtag,
The best never lose their love of sports. Fuel your love forward: https://t.co/ArUH5DiMVihttps://t.co/X3BivV33wV
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 14, 2016
that also teases further campaign pieces with bespoke content like this animation teaser.
Coming July 18. The Boy Who Learned To Fly @usainbolt #LoveOfSports pic.twitter.com/atpuQccdYn
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 10, 2016
All assets also link to the campaign’s youth sports donation initiative that asks viewers/consumers to vote for one of 19 youth sports-focused organisations (some of which were suggested by the athlete endorsers themselves) to arrive at a group of four outfits that Gatorade will donate $50,000 to.
Consumers can vote online until the end of November at http://www.gatorade.com/loveofsports.
The call-to-action line for the voting strand to incentivise participation is ‘cast your vote to fuel the love forward’.
A parallel June sports campaign from Gatorade sees the energy rink further support youth sport in the USA by expanding its high-school awards program and allowing Gatorade ‘State Player of the Year’ winners to give charitable grants funded by the company.
A further strand of the campaign will see Gatorade produce a limited edition bottle range featuring Williams, Bolt, George, Ross and footballer Lionel Messi.
‘The work builds from “Win From Within”, Gatorade’s brand platform and the north star of the work that we do, by showing that motivation comes from the first time athletes feel the pure love of sport,’ said TBWA\Chiat\Day creative director Renato Fernandez.
‘[There’s] a love from within capable of motivating and pushing them through all the hardship and taking them to the next level.’
Comment
While this lead spot doesn’t feel quite as emotional or authentic as last year’s pre US Open Gatorade spot featuring a young Serena Williams (the success of which must have influenced the planning and creativity of this campaign – see case study), it is affecting.
It skilfully shows the athletes’ dedication with heart and a touch of fun.
The early engagement signs are fairly promising with the spot racking up 111,036 YouTube views, 4,500 Likes and 2,300 retweets on Twitter in first 48 hours.
Links
Gatorade ‘Love Of Sports’ Web:
http://www.gatorade.com/loveofsports
Gatorade YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/whatsg
Gatorade Google+:
https://plus.google.com/u/1/108751617052272275707/videos
Gatorade Web:
TBWA\Chiat\Day LA
