Gatorade features Michael Jordan, Caitlin Clark and other star athletes in its biggest campaign ever

Taking perspiration from its past, Gatorade is reviving its classic “Is It In You?” campaign. A new ad that premiered Tuesday put colorful beads of sweat on a new class of athletes including Caitlin Clark, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Jayson Tatum, Josh Allen and A’ja Wilson. The colorful sweat was an iconic image of the original “Is It In You” campaign, which debuted in 1998. Michael Jordan, a star of those ads then, narrates the new spot. Read about Ad Age’s 2024 Leading Women here The ad is part of “the single biggest brand campaign in the history of the brand,” according to Anuj Bhasin, chief brand officer of Gatorade, which is owned by PepsiCo. More from Ad Age: Inside Pepsi’s food-focused marketing The creative The work, called “It Hasn’t Changed,” from TBWA\Chiat\Day, brings back the iconic look of Gatorade ads from 25 years ago. “Everything about the game has changed, except for the most important thing—what you have inside,” Jordan relates over sports highlights, interspersed with black and white footage of athletes sweating in the rainbow of Gatorade colors. Clark has orange drops of sweat on her forehead; Allen sweats blue. Jordan’s monologue focuses on the word “it”—“It refuses to be ignored, it sweats everything.” Jordan is the last athlete to appear onscreen, orange sweat dripping down his face, as he delivers the line, “Gatorade, is it in you?” Insight Gatorade’s throwback comes as the brand moves to inspire young athletes by tapping into an internal drive to succeed—a message imparted by a scene in the commercial of a high school football player working up the nerve to go into battle. It’s a timely message amid an alarming decline in sports participation, with 30% of those playing a sport when they are young dropping out by high school, Bhasin said, citing third-party research commissioned by the brand. “Over half of these athletes that are dropping out, are dropping out due to pressure … things like mental health, criticism, self-doubt,” Bhasin said. “The culture around sport today, as athletes are getting into high school, is not one that has been great for them.” The campaign will balance this message with deep stories of “what’s inside our athletes,” Bhasin said. The campaign comes after Gatorade introduced a loyalty membership program aimed at young consumers, offering customized gear and exclusive merchandise. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Media strategy The TV spot debuted during Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference Finals Tuesday on TNT. Gatorade had been teasing the campaign on billboards in select cities and in an ad starring Caitlin Clark that aligned with her WNBA debut. That spot highlighted the “i-t” in Caitlin alongside the brand’s familiar orange lightning bolt. “We’re going to make a significant investment in linear TV and digital, social and out-of-home. And it’s also going to launch in social in a really disruptive way,” Bhasin said. “It'll be one moment where every athlete within our roster … all come together to create a really big groundswell around this message.” More news: Why Gatorade launched a water brand Bhasin said the new campaign would not only be the largest in term of spending for Gatorade but would also have the most athletes and provide the brand the largest share of voice throughout the year. He declined to share a specific spending figure. Gatorade spent $153 million on U.S. measured media in 2023, down slightly from $158 million in 2022, according to Vivvix including paid social from Pathmatics. Business climate Gatorade remains by far the largest brand in the sports drink space, with more than two-thirds of category market share by volume (67.7%), according to figures from Beverage Digest. But recent results are mixed, as young competitors in the category make gains, and the expanding beverage space offers more choice for consumers. Overall Gatorade volume dipped by 8.5% in 2023 with volume market share falling by 3.1 points, Beverage Digest stated. All Gatorade varieties lost volume except for the rapid rehydration Gatorlyte, which gained by 57.5%. Gatorade’s overall dollar sales increased by 4.3%, with dollar share falling 2.1 points to 65.2%, Beverage Digest figures show. Volume dips also plagued Coca-Cola Co., which holds the No. 2 spot in the sports drink space with 24.2% volume share, down by 1.8 points. Coke’s brands, Bodyarmor and Powerade, saw volume fall by 10.8% and 14.6% respectively, for the year. Coke’s dollar share in sports drinks fell by 6.4%. The big gainer in sports drinks is Logan Paul’s Prime, which grew volume by 570.2% last year, gaining 4.8 points of market share to now control 5.6% of the overall market. Grupo Pisa’s Electrolit brand grew volume by 23.4% and is as big (1.7 share) as Gatorlyte, according to Beverage Digest data. Bhasin said Gatorade was outpacing competitors so far this year “and we think summer is going to be truly exceptional.” Throwback trend This campaign marks the second summer in a row that Gatorade is kicking off with a throwback ad starring Jordan. Last June, the brand called back to its famous “Be Like Mike” jingle from 1991 to kick off its “Way to be Great” campaign. Bhasin said the new iteration of “Is it in You” differs from the first version by focusing less on the product and more on what it means to be an athlete. Bringing back the colored sweat is “an important piece” of the new campaign. “We’ve done a ton of research, and what we’ve learned is that colored sweat is something that is inspirational, aspirational to athletes of all ages,” Bhasin said. “And it signifies what we stand for as a brand, and not just why our product is superior.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Gatorade features Michael Jordan, Caitlin Clark and other star athletes in its biggest campaign ever

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