Gatorade does digital. But is it interactive?
I should begin by saying that, yet again, the fine folks at YPulse have made me stop and think. Their most recent post chronicles Gatorade’s attempt to rebrand (and score media attention) through their cryptic and much-discussed “G” campaign. (If you need a refresher, you can view a clip here. Essentially, Gatorade ran a series of unbranded, star-studded commercials in an effort to build buzz.) And it worked. For weeks, curious viewers flocked to the web, asking the Google Gods who was behind the ads. A few weeks later, the ruse was revealed, and just about everyone gave a collective nod and said to themselves, well, that sounds about right. Most media watchers agreed that it was a success — if a short lived one. One point Gatorade.
In an effort to build on the success, Gatorade has created a stand-alone microsite for the “G” brand. The site is designed to house a wealth of Gatorade-made video content, which, at least in theory, Gen-Y-ers will spend hours pouring over. This attempt is of particular interest to YMC since we’re in the business of helping brands connect with their consumers both physically and digitally. Now, to be sure, Gatorade (or rather, Gatorade’s creative agency) has made some excellent content. This stuff is stunning. I mean, they have access to Kevin Garnett, Tiger Woods, those weird masked dancing guys from that dancing show on Fox, and they have a budget, I’m sure, that rivals NASA’s. In that respect, Gatorade is just about the ideal client to develop a digital campaign for.
And of course, like any smart brand, Gatorade makes it possible to share the content they make on just about every conceivable platform. Add a video to your blog, your Facebook page, your, er, LiveJournal. It’s yours! Do whatever you want with the content, Gatorade tells us. But I wonder: is there enough opportunity for dialogue with the consumer? Sure, you’re allowing those share-happy Gen-Y-ers to send your 30-second video to their friends, but are you giving them a chance to really interact with the brand?
So, I’m going to open this up to y’all. What do you think of Gatorade’s efforts? Do you think this will resonate with Gen Y? Or is Gatorade not going far enough?
Happy Friday,
nguyen duong
February 27th, 2009
at 7:05 pm
hi paul,
are you suggesting that Gatorade create more of a interactive community where the ppl can hang out vs taking the stuff and going to where the rest of their friends are? the site is pretty “faceless”. there’s no person/personality on the site to make you want to hang out and engage in relevant conversation. on the FB, i can share my found content w/friends and start conversations in our hang out, cos that’s where they’re all at.
Hugh Jedwill
March 10th, 2009
at 1:37 pm
I think Gatorade dropped the ball. They should be engaging their consumers like Nike does with opportunities to stay linked with their favorite athletes. They have some \cool\ videos but they missed the mark by not creating a two-way interaction with their consumers. Whether it took the form of consumer input, social networking, or mobile marketing, Gatorade missed another chance to speak WITH their consumer and instead opted to continue to speak AT them. This kind of marketing works only when a lot of money is thrown behind it.