Sponsorship Symposium: "G" Campaign A Success For Gatorade
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O'Hagan Says Gatorade Met
Goals In Rebranding To G |
Gatorade's top marketing executive told the SBJ/SBD Relay Worldwide Sports Sponsorship Symposium yesterday that its "G" campaign has met its goals of attracting a younger demographic and spurring growth for the sports drink brand. The campaign launched January 1 with a TV ad featuring well-known athletes asking, "What is G?" The first month of the campaign was designed to be vague, leaving consumers in the dark about what exactly G was. More than a month later, Gatorade ran a Super Bowl ad that told viewers that it was switching its brand from Gatorade to G. Gatorade CMO Sarah Robb O'Hagan said the brand wanted to attract a younger demographic when its growth slowed considerably in 2007-08. "Kids viewed Gatorade as something their dad drank, not them," O'Hagan said. "We're definitely seeing our cool index with teens flying up." To go after that demo, Gatorade started spending a lot more time marketing online. Gatorade dropped TV spend from 87% of budget last year to 66% this year. Digital marketing moved from 0% to 6%. "For so many years, we were so dominant on TV, we didn't do anything online," O'Hagan said. "If you want to be cool with teen athletes, that's where you've got to be." Gatorade also expanded its pitch beyond superstar athletes to much lesser-known athletes. It is marketing much more heavily in action sports, and has enlisted kick boxers, beach volleyball players and dancers to pitch for them. "We can be a catalyst of what they are trying to do," she said. The campaign's only snag was with the recession, which O'Hagan said has been much fiercer than the company expected.
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