Bob Porcaro had a problem. As group account director for Omnicom-owned media agency OMD, Chicago, Porcaro had been charged with the Gatorade account, along with a considerable mission: Get the attention of hard-core, high-school-aged athletes -- without talking at them (more on that in a minute.)
The issue wasn't so much making young jocks aware of Gatorade. Within the athletic community, the electrolyte-replacing beverage (concocted in 1965 for players on the University of Florida's Gators football team) already enjoyed a cult-like following. Plus, as Porcaro says, the PepsiCo-owned sports drink was "a mass brand" that did "a fair amount of advertising [to] a mass audience."
But Gatorade has faced stiff competition in recent years from Coca-Cola rivals Powerade and Vitaminwater and -- believe it or not -- tap water. (The recession had a lot to do with that.) As Gatorade's senior manager of consumer engagement Morgan Flatley observes, the target consumer is "all about getting that performance edge" -- and Gatorade would have to promise them that.
That gave Porcaro an idea. He tapped Stack Media (which produces and distributes performance, training and lifestyle content for die-hard athletes) to develop a dedicated site known as the Gatorade Performance Center. It would be a one-stop training destination for teens, complete with training tips, customized workouts, and an interactive "Ask the Experts" feature.
The effort (which captures the honors for digital Media Plan of the Year in the under-$1 million category) went beyond Gatorade's standing reputation as a sports drink and helped establish the brand as an athletic-training authority.
As Porcaro puts it: "It was a classic example of what happens when [a brand] finds the right [media] partner and they're both on the same wavelength."
The alliance allowed Gatorade to trade on Stack's already considerable rep with high-school jocks. Stack Media, whose online properties include Stack.com, has 4 million unique monthly visitors, per comScore, and Stack Magazine (which will reach 15,000 high schools this fall) has a readership of 5 million.
When it came to Porcaro's directive to capture youth athletes' attention without screaming at them, that wasn't hyperbole. There's a big difference between marketing that talks to teens and marketing that can truly speak to them. "[Other] sports properties out there talk about the news in sports -- the team standings and stats," explains Carl Mehlhope, Stack Media's svp, sales and marketing. By contrast, he says, "Stack is all about the how-to." The site (along with its various media platforms) is about "what [teen athletes] eat, what motivates them, how to stay hydrated and [how to go] through the recruitment process."
In its first three months (September through November 2009), the campaign attracted 100,000 site visits, surpassing the brand's initial goal by 60 percent. Some 15,000 teens registered to use the Performance Tracker, a personalized workout tool that dispensed daily workout calendars and printable training routines. The site's "Ask the Experts" section drew 1,000 inquiries about training and working out. Meanwhile, Gatorade tapped high-profile athletes like Peyton Manning and Dwyane Wade to star in its 150 training videos -- popular, Mehlhope says, because teens see the pros as giving them access to "underground" information.
And all of this was created for an ad budget of under a million bucks. Gatorade would not comment on the exact cost, but OMD's Porcaro explains that "a little went a long way" because the campaign was so specifically targeted. It was intended to "test the waters," and if effective, Gatorade would spend more, he added. (That's just what Gatorade is doing. At press time, the sports drink was running a teaser for its Performance Center on its microsite.)
The campaign's second phase, which launches this week, includes "a lot more interaction between athletes" and between coaches and their teams, Mehlhope says. It'll also expand to include more high school sports, he adds.
How's it worked out for Gatorade corporate? The company's sales are up, though that's probably most attributable to new-product launches like the G Series. But having all those kids religiously visiting your Web site surely cannot hurt. If nothing else, the site is an investment in the brand's longevity.
Young athletes, Porcaro says, are "the core" demo for the drink, and intense athletic teens will "always be the bread and butter of what Gatorade is about," he says. Now, thanks to OMD, they have a Web site that speaks their language.
Bob Porcaro had a problem. As group account director for Omnicom-owned media agency OMD, Chicago, Porcaro had been charged with the Gatorade account, along with a considerable mission: Get the attention of hard-core, high-school-aged athletes -- without talking at them (more on that in a minute.)