Gatorade Starts New Year With Campaign Promoting Health Benefits

Gatorade debuted a new commercial during yesterday’s Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl games which introduced the theme "Win From Within" and claims that “what athletes put into their bodies is just as important as what they put on them,” according to Natalie Zmuda of AD AGE. The spot, which “juxtaposes high-school and college athletes against professionals” including Heat G Dwyane Wade, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and U.S. national women’s soccer team F Abby Wambach, says, "Your moisture-wicking fabric isn't enough. Your zero-weight shoes aren't enough. Your carbon-fiber racket isn't enough. The apps that track, analyze and motivate you aren't enough. Nothing you put on is." PepsiCo Global CMO of Sports Nutrition & Gatorade North America President Sarah Robb O'Hagan said, "We were pushing these (nutrition) products out there for athletes, but hadn't really taken a step back and declared what we stood for and why they should even care about the category in the first place, let alone our products." Zmuda noted in the first commercial, “the tagline appears with a hashtag, a move that Ms. Robb O'Hagan hopes will help get the discussion started.” Gatorade Mission Control, a “physical space where Gatorade and its agency execs monitor social media that launched in 2010, will be an integral part of monitoring the campaign.” Mission Control is “also expanding globally, with new locations in the U.K. and Latin America” (ADAGE.com, 1/1).