Gatorade Launches Usain Bolt Ad Touting Brand's Lack Of Olympic Sponsorship

After his "epic performance" at the London Games, Gold Medal-winning Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt gets an "epic commercial to match" from Gatorade, according to Tim Nudd of ADWEEK. The spot, via TBWA\Chiat\Day, shows Bolt as "a Grim Reaper of sorts," who "stalks his way through London." On his way to the Olympic Stadium, "the voiceover gloats about how Gatorade didn't have to advertise at the Games because it was already inside the athletes." The narrator says, "We weren't there on stadium billboards. We weren't there on double-decker buses. We weren't on buttons, souvenirs or commemorative snow globes. We weren't there officially sponsoring anything. We were there for real. Inside the bodies of some of the greatest athletes on earth" (ADWEEK.com, 8/16). Meanwhile, BRAND REPUBLIC's Matthew Chapman noted non-Olympic sponsors Thursday began running newspaper ads featuring Olympic athletes "as they seek to take advantage of the end of the advertising blackout period." Brands including U.K. Athletics main sponsor Aviva, Volvo and Virgin Media "have taken out Olympics-related advertising." Aviva is "running a high-profile campaign" in many major U.K. newspapers which features athletes including Gold Medal-winning U.K. athletes Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah (BRANDREPUBLIC.com, 8/16).