Photo: STEVE GREEN / GATORADE
A
t Gatorade, executives used to say the biggest market-share threat was from water. With the brand having broadened from beverages and hydration to overall sports nutrition, now there are countless competitors, and there seems to be no end to the new rivals on the sports-drink front as well.
Morgan Flatley
Gatorade | Chief Marketing Officer
“Becoming a sports-fuel brand and getting out of the bottle into food has been a big change,” said Morgan Flatley, who acknowledged that she’s feeling like an old-timer after almost 10 years on the Gatorade brand and 11 years at parent company PepsiCo. “But we’ve also been changing and innovating in the way we market and connect with athletes. When we think about our future as ‘sports fuel,’ it’s meant a dramatic change, and there’s more than ever in the development pipeline.”
Flatley relishes her job leading marketing for what’s become one of the most endemic of sports brands since it allows her to combine a passion for sports with one for alleviating consumer pain points.
“I went to business school with the intent of getting to the brand side,” Flatley said. “Now ‘sports nutrition’ has become mainstream, and there’s an emphasis on it as the next frontier in athletic performance and training. It’s a great place for the brand.”
As the focus and number of Gatorade products has changed, so has the marketing behind them. “Like every brand, we think more about technology and the new ways to reach athletes,” Flatley said. “There are so many channels: digital, social, VR, even gaming and mobile. It’s meant more focus and innovation there for us also.”
— Terry Lefton
- Notable professional achievement: Working on a brand with strong growth, and working with a great team.
- Best advice received: Show up, speak up, team up, never give up, lift others up.
- Causes supported: Women’s Sports Foundation, Chicago Children’s Museum.
- Woman in sports business I’d most like to meet: Dawn Hudson. I am really curious about the job in front of her.
- Most memorable sporting event attended: Super Bowl XLIX was amazing.
- If my colleagues were asked to describe me, they would say I: Am passionate and someone who cares about her people.
