- Gatorade is reviving its iconic “Is It In You?” tagline from the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s as a part of the PepsiCo brand’s largest-ever campaign, based on details shared with Marketing Dive.
- The campaign is supposed to combat the extraordinary societal pressures placed on the newest generation of athletes and is rooted in a 60-second ad narrated by longtime brand partner Michael Jordan with appearances from athletes like Caitlin Clark and A’Ja Wilson.
- The spot debuted throughout the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 28. The campaign will run throughout the summer with additional marketing spanning social media, including custom filters on Snapchat and Instagram, and billboards in cities nationwide.
Gatorade is bringing fresh energy to its “Is It In You?” tagline from the ‘90s and early aughts to encourage the following generation of athletes to disregard the noise. The move seeks to handle the shifting pressures and distractions faced by athletes today versus three a long time ago, with 53% of Gen Z athletes who stopped playing sports reporting that they did so due to external aspects like social pressure and unrealistic expectations, per Gatorade research cited in release details.
Accordingly, the revival of the brand’s iconic tagline — first popularized with ads showcasing NBA legend Jordan dripping in Gatorade-colored sweat — reintroduces the concept of “it,” or what the brand defines because the “inner drive that fuels greatness.” The campaign’s 60-second spot, “It Hasn’t Changed,” is narrated by Jordan, also the brand’s longest-standing athlete partner, and serves as a reminder to athletes that greatness isn’t about features like hype, clout or likes, but one’s own determination.
“The return of ‘Is It In You?’, our biggest campaign of all time, is about acknowledging how much the sports landscape has modified, while reminding athletes that one thing hasn’t – the inner drive that fuels you – and that’s what matters most,” said Gatorade Chief Brand Officer Anuj Bhasin in a press release.
The film also includes appearances from various Gatorade’s roster athletes, including Josh Allen, Caitlin Clark, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Jayson Tatum, A’ja Wilson, and DJ Lagway, who share stories of how they’ve overcome personal obstacles by channeling their “it” while being seen dripping in Gatorade-colored sweat in a nod to the unique ads.
A handful of other brands have made the well-being of athletes a spotlight of their marketing, including Dove and Athleta. Additional marketing from Gatorade can even include a “coloured sweat takeover” on social media from Gatorade’s athlete roster, billboards in cities across the country and custom filters on Snapchat and Instagram.
The revival of Gatorade’s decades-old tagline follows similar calls to the past from marketers including sister brand Pepsi, which celebrated 125 years by resurfacing past ads, and Coca-Cola brands Sprite and Fanta, each who brought back their very own nostalgic platforms. The Gatorade campaign also reflects a “larger, higher” ethos observed throughout the splashy efforts from quite a lot of others these days starting from Welch’s Fruit Snacks to Gopuff and Puma.
PepsiCo in its first quarter earnings called out Gatorade inside its North America Beverages division for having “notable improvement” in its market share trends because the period progressed, per the corporate’s latest earnings statement. Earlier this 12 months, the brand expanded its presence within the hydration market with the launch of Gatorade Water, the marketer’s first unflavored water, which it supported with a digital-first campaign titled “Always in Motion.”
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