Gatorade launched a campaign called "Replay" where they reunited two high school football teams from 1993 to replay their rivalry game that ended in a tie over 15 years later. Gatorade trained the now 30-something former athletes for 90 days and hosted the replay of the iconic game in front of 15,000 fans. A documentary series was created about the Replay story that inspired former athletes and increased regional Gatorade sales by 63%. The campaign received over $3 million in earned media from a $225k investment, demonstrating how fueling second chances aligned with Gatorade's brand.

1. Gatorade „Replay‟ Case Study

2. Summary
The Problem: Only 3 in 10 adults over age 30 exercise
regularly
The Challenge: Reignite the athletic spark in the 30+ age
group
The Solution: Provide an opportunity every athlete
dreams of

3. The Brief
• Do more than simply say something from the TV
• Be about getting off the couch and doing something
• Weave the DNA of the brand into the DNA of culture to
find more authentic connections with the audience

4. Believed actions would speak louder than our words so set
out to:
1. Allow people to experience what Gatorade stands for –
A Catalyst for Athletic Achievement.
2. Demonstrate Gatorade‟s functional reason for being –
Fueling Athletic Performance.

5. The Strategy
Insight:
No matter how great they are or how many
championships they‟ve won, all athletes have one game or
moment they wish they could change the outcome of.
It‟s why we both love and hate the finality of competition.

6. • Sport only gives you one shot, one chance to determine
the outcome and define winner and loser for all eternity.
• There are no second chances.
• We wondered if Gatorade could change this universal
truth about sport.
• What if Gatorade used sport as a catalyst for giving
athletes a second chance?
• An “athletic do-over” that only Gatorade could provide.
• What if Gatorade wasn‟t just a beverage company, what if
it was a network?

7. Communication strategy:
Let’s fuel second chances.

8. The Execution
Fuel an opportunity every athlete dreams of - a second
chance. Gatorade reunited the original players (now all in
their mid 30s) from two 1993 high school football teams
to replay their rivalry game that ended in a 7-7 tie.
Gatorade became a true athletic partner.

9. For 90 days Gatorade scientists trained and coached these
former athletes to help prepare them for the big game.
The big re-match was held in the venue of the original
1993 game, Fisher Field, in front of a crowd of 15,000
fans. Gatorade supplied the athletic fuel for the game.

10. With on-field temperatures reaching over 100°F, no players
were dehydrated or seriously hurt – talk about the
ultimate product demonstration.
We also created a 5-part documentary series released online
that told the Replay story in order to inspire other former
athletes from around the nation. The Situation: Athletic
participation plummets drastically once individuals
graduate from High School.

11. Family, career and increasing obligations inevitably replace
sport and exercise. Per US government statistics, 7 in 10
adults aged over 30 don‟t exercise regularly. And thus,
aren‟t using Gatorade like they used to. Our challenge was
to reignite the athletic spark with this group of former
Gatorade loyalists.

12. Results
A majority of participants made dramatic health
improvements. Many lost over 25 pounds, added muscle
and altered poor eating/exercise habits. Bruce Lebitz is a
great example of the changes the players made. Bruce lost
57 pounds and was able to come off his cholesterol and
blood pressure medication.

13. Created news, not advertising. $3,415,255(US) worth of
earned media from just $225K in paid media – a 14,000%
ROI. Named as one of CNN‟s Top Stories of 2009. Game
sold out in 90 minutes.

14. Tickets fetched 6 times their face value on eBay.
6-page editorial feature story in Men‟s Health.
REPLAY is now a documentary television series broadcast to
90 million households.
Thousands of athletes have petitioned Gatorade to be
selected for the next REPLAY game, scheduled for 2010.
Regional Gatorade sales increased by 63%

15. • Proving that once you‟re an athlete, you‟re always an
athlete
• Content was posted online so that viewers could follow
their journey
• 10,000 tickets sold out in 90 minutes
• 160 million media impressions
• One of CNN‟s top stories for 2009
• Gatorade‟s „Line-up Finder‟ in collaboration with
Facebook allows former athletes to reconnect with former
team mates and to nominate their teams for upcoming
seasons of the show

19. • An indication of the high quality content and top end
production was demonstrated when Fox Sports acquired
the rights to the series and began airing the previously
online-only production, further extending the reach of the
campaign.

20. • TV exposure contributed to a campaign value of over $3
million worth of earned media, from a spend of
just $255,000. Replay also garnered 160 million media
impressions

21. Digital Impressions
• 84 MM impressions for digital banner campaigns
• 75M unique visitors to replaytheseries.com to date
• More than 30% of users tay more than 10 minutes
• 13,961 Facebook fans, 58% of fans are active monthly
• 6,200+ tweets for 529MM impressions
• 1.8MM views on REPLAY online videos

22. Player Bio

23. The Power of PR
“Filled with stories of dashed hopes and dreams
delayed, Replay is a primer in modern digital public
relations: viral videos, public appearances, press
conferences, media tours, online communities -- and
yes, even a few ads to promote the web series that grew out
of it.”
Timothy Kane, AdAge

24. Sources
http://www.canneslions.com/inspiration/past_grands_prix
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http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleI
D=18303&Title=Gatorade_%E2%80%98Replay%E2%80
%99_PR_campaign
http://www.slideshare.net/fmsignal/rob-schwartz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wARLfVzSsLs
http://sportwired.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/gatorade-
replay-classic-social-media-activation/
http://www.clioawards.com/winners_media/2011/public_r
elations/high/201109415_1_supporting.pdf