Gatorade Masters the Art of Michael Jordan...

Are you looking to create a captivating in-market display that utilizes your products? Are you looking for new ways to leverage athlete endorsers?

As CNBC's Darren Rovell reported a few weeks ago, Gatorade recently created a unique mural of Michael Jordan ona sidewalk in the South Side of Chicago using 14,641 Gatorade bottles. The sidewalk street are was created to introduce the brand's new, limited edition Jordan Series (which includes six (6) different MJ-themed flavors) and commemorate His Airness'upcoming induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall ofFame.

Gatorade called on an internalteam of experts and celebrities (Scottie Pippen, Jackie Joyner-Kersee) to create the impressive street art display in a matter of only 16 hours. A series of lighting fixtures enable the thousands of Gatorade bottles making the Michael Jordan display glow at night time. But what's even more impressive than the actual display itself is the amount of preparation, teamwork, and planning that was required to execute the project. The second video below does a tremendous job detailing all of Gatorade's behind-the-scenes work. Check it out!

Gatorade's "G" Campaign Begins to Make Sense...

Are you looking to create an inspirational sales piece that does a nice job incorporating product placement? Are you looking for new ways to leverage athlete endorsers?

During the 2009 NBA playoffs, Gatorade launched its most recent commercial to support its "G" campaign. The advertisement does a tremendous job incorporating Gatorade's product and athlete endorsers into a storyline that makes sense. All of the company's miscellaneous slogans are starting to come together to form an impactful messaging campaign.

What is G? Gatorade's newest commercial, "That's G" should give you a better idea:

Despite the initial ambiguity of its $50MM "G" campaign, Gatorade has not lost any strides when it comes to fan recognition (despite losing 7.3% in market share in Q1 2009). More NFL fans correctly identified Gatorade as the league's sponsor in the sports/energy drink category then fans who identified the official sponsor in any other measured category (and higher than any other league-sponsor recognition scores in the NBA, NHL, NASCAR, and MLB). Source: Turnkey Sports & Entertainment Poll for Sports Business Journal