1. Gatorade “Replay” Campaign

3. This sports drink campaign targeted a middle aged market not normally associated with Gatorade products, which tended to advertise to the younger, more active, generation. The reason for this was based on a US report that 70% of North American adults over the age of 30 did not exercise enough. As Gatorade is a product designed to facilitate exercise, this niche could be capitalised by their sports drink.

4. The basis of the “Replay” campaign was a 1993 Football match between Easton and Phillipsburg, which ended in a draw. Gatorade staged a rematch (hence the “Replay title) 15 years later in 2010 with the same players, who were now in their early thirties. In doing so, the match and the surrounding advertising not only appealed to viewers of the original match who wanted closure of the 1993 match, but also proved to them that they could and should still be physically active even 15 years later.

5. Advertising went out through several channels. A Facebook app was produced to coincide with a series of videos explaining exercises designed for over 30s. The main part of the advertising was a TV documentary charting the development of the original 1993 players as they got their bodies back up to speed with what the rematch would demand from them. The advertising costs were around $225,000

6. Tickets to the rematch (all 15,000 of them) sold out in an hour and a half.

7. The result of the campaign was highly positive. Their investment of 225,000 of advertising dollars paid off somewhere in the range of $3m worth of coverage. This was because they were staging a sporting event as the main part of their campaign, and as such received a great deal of coverage from news and sports reporting that did not need to be paid by Gatorade. The positive tie in with encouraging exercise in over 30s won it support and credibility, and the fact that their products facilitated exercise strengthened their association.

8. Sales of Gatorade were boosted by 63% in the regions the adverts were run, easily making up for the cost of the advertising expenditure, and the positive association it created would cause this sales boost to last longer than a traditional advertising campaign.