Following up on my posting of a Creative Brief for Gatorade Tiger, this is what Gatorade did for its first commercial. I’m not a big fan of the sci-fi slant and slight hokeyness of the commercial. I think Gatorade would have been better served focusing on the winning aspects of Tiger much like the “Be Like Mike” Nike campaigns of the early 1990s.
For my Advertising and Sales Promotions Class, we were tasked with selecting an existing advertising campaign and developing a new one via a creative brief. I chose Gatorade and it’s introduction of it’s new sports drink Gatorade Tiger. Announced in October 2007, Gatorade and Tiger Woods have agreed to a 5-year licensing deal worth as much as $100 million[1]. In the deal, Gatorade will introduce the new sports drink in March 2008. Gatorade Tiger will be available in 3 flavors – Red Drive (Cherry Blend), Cool Fusion (Citrus Blend), and Quiet Storm (Grape).
Basic Problem - The advertising must introduce a new sports drink to the already crowded beverage market while taking into consideration Gatorade’s current offerings and advertisements. Currently, Gatorade offers a multitude of products including Gatorade, Gatorade Frost, Gatorade Rain, Gatorade All Stars, Gatorade Fierce, Gatorade X Factor, Gatorade AM, Gatorade Xtremo, and the newly introduced G2. As of May 2007, Gatorade accounted for 85.5% of the bottled sports drink market with Powerade as their largest competitor. Gatorade is also competing in the bottled water market. Their Propel Fitness Water offering currently holds 5.1% (Appendix B) of the market. One of their more direct competitors is Vitamin Water. Much like Gatorade, their marketing strategy revolves around the sports industry as well. Over the years, they have signed several marquee athletes such as New England Patriots’ Tom Brady, Chicago Bears’ Brian Urlacher, and Houston Rockets’ Tracy McGrady. They also have branched into the non-athlete promotion arena with rapper 50 Cent. Gatorade’s biggest challenge is to expand the bottled sports beverage/functional water markets and not cannibalize their own sales. A secondary challenge is take into consideration their current marketing efforts as well as the image that Tiger Woods has already established. Tiger has and is continuing to endorse several other products/brands including Accenture, Nike, Buick, and American Express.
Objectives of Advertising - For Gatorade Tiger, there are several important objectives that we need to attain:
Target Audience - Gatorade Tiger’s target audiences differ slightly from the usual Gatorade consumers. Their Platinum Customers (Primary Target) would be males aged 18-35 with interest in sports, particularly golf. Most likely these would be weekend warrior golfers who are passionate about the sport, purchase high end golf equipment, and are looking for ways to improve their game. These are not professionals but rather those who enjoy playing the sport when they have the time. Gatorade Tiger’s Gold Customers (Secondary Target) are golfers of both sexes and of all ages. While Gatorade naturally skews younger, Tiger Woods has a presence that seems to transcend all ages. His current endorsements of Nike, American Express, and Buick definitely are attracting two sets of demographics. Nike skews younger whereas American Express and Buick skew towards the 50+ age crowd. Key Benefits - Gatorade Tiger has several key benefits that will resonate with their target customers:
Brand Personality - Gatorade Tiger must personify two brands – Gatorade and Tiger Woods. Gatorade stands for high performance, thirst quenching, and science. The personality is intense, focused, and is a winner. Tiger Woods has a lot of these characteristics as well. He is the undisputed #1 golfer in the world today. He is on track to break every major golf record and stands for excellence, winning, determination, focus, hard working, and a leader. According to his agent Mark Steinberg – “We wanted to get away from a straight endorsement deal in the beverage category. We thought this would be the best fit for his first licensing deal. It’s authentic to what Tiger does every day, as hard as he works out every day.”[4] Tiger Woods is also has two personalities when he is on the golf course. He is very calm, collected, and focused when he is getting ready for a shot but is fiery and emotional when he makes a big putt.
Special Requirements - There are a several requirements that the advertisements must incorporate:
Creative Development - For Gatorade Tiger, The Big Idea can be summed up as – “Getting the most out of your golf game and obtaining peak performance on the golf course just like Tiger does.” For the two print advertisement concepts, they will have similar but distinct messages. Both will incorporate The Big Idea.
Print Advertisement #1 - The first print advertisement is called “Eye of the Tiger”. It features a black and white image of Tiger Woods’ intense stare with color enhanced sweat. It emphasizes performance with the statement that “being a winner takes hard work and sweat.” There is also a large close-up image of the product with the tag line, “it’s in Tiger. is it in you?” For the verbal part of the message strategy, the intent was to emphasize four areas:
For the nonverbal part of the message, there were several intentional elements that were added to emphasize the key benefits and brand personality:
Print Advertisement #2 - The second print advertisement is called “Be Tiger”. It features 3 consecutive statements that follow the same sentence structure. It also showcases Tiger Woods in his trademark fist pump and all 3 Gatorade Tiger flavors. The same tag line, “it’s in Tiger. is it in you?” is also used. Like the first advertisement, the 4 main areas of the verbal part of the message strategy is still the same – the words reinforce Tiger’s association with the product, the idea that Gatorade helps athletes compete at their highest level, product features and attributes, and an association with previous Gatorade Ads. Unlike the first advertisement, the second one uses a repetition of similar sentences. The use of the word “be” is there to be aspirational for what the consumer wants to be. All three adjectives “amazing”, “inspiring”, and “best” represent Tiger and invokes the desire from the consumer standpoint to be like Tiger. For the nonverbal part of the message, the second advertisement used different intentional elements to emphasize the key benefits and brand personality:
[1] http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3066280
[2] http://www.cnbc.com/id/21332360
[3] http://www.gatorade.com/pdf/2007_gatorade_tiger_woods.pdf
[4] http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/pga/2007-10-16-tiger-gatorade_N.htm
Michael Vick has decided to plead guilty and face prison in his federal dog fighting case. This does not mean his NFL playing days are over nor does not mean you will not see another Air Vick shoe.
In our society today, we give plenty of second chances and time seems to heal many wounds. Look at all the many fallen sports stars who have made it back to see more glory days. Do we really think twice about buying a new Kobe 24 jersey or remember that pro-bowl linebacker Ray Lewis was charged with double murder?
Vick will serve his 12-18 months in jail and be forgotten. The media attention and outrage on dog fighting will subside. His agent and PR person will apologize profusely to the public and then its back to work again - training to get into shape, signing and proving himself all over again, winning over fans after scoring his first comeback TD, and the riches of endorsements will be there waiting.
In a world where we pay our sports stars millions of dollars to play the “game” and millions more to endorse products, its nice to see them outside the PR machine. Shaq genuinely is a nice guy or maybe South Beach is making him soft.
So today, I broke the 100 mile mark for the year. This means that I have run at least 100 miles in each of the past 4 years (yes I have been keeping track) . I used to track my mileage by manually entering into a training log on NikeRunning.com. This past January, I began using the Nike+ Ipod System to automatically track my distances and log my results. I have been impressed not only with the quality of the product but also the design of it. It is quite user friendly and bottom line it works.
The product design is only one part of why I am such a strong advocate. The website and motivational tools that are provided also add to the experience. After uploading my runs I can visit NikePlus.com to see interactive graphs, accumulated mileage, and personal records. I also have the ability to challenge other people (e.g., most miles run within 30 days) and I have the ability to join running groups with people around the country.
In terms of social marketing, they do an excellent job of creating buzz and provide opportunities to share your enthusiasm for the product. Aside from challenging other friends to run more or interacting with others around the country, I also have the ability to share my accomplishments. When I passed the 100 mile marker, I was “awarded” a printable certificate, the ability to have a shareable link to an online certificate, and a medal for my personal records. Little things that keep you motivated to keep running more.
I can also share my runs with other people on websites, blogs, or social networking sites. Below you will find my longest run of the year (notice how I died towards the end). Pretty cool, eh?
