The Ultimate Account Guy » Tiger Woods

Gatorade Goes Animated With Tiger

dennisbernhard — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Gatorade has always been good for a couple impressive commercials every year. From the days of wanting to “be like Mike” to now they’ve been able to keep the attention of the consumer while staying true to their strategy. This is why I was shocked to see an animated commercial from Gatorade. They’ve used CG in the past but, to my recollection, they’ve never gone fully animated.

In the commercial Little Tiger is coached by a wise talking bear. After making a bad shot, the bear gives him some words of wisdom, Little Tiger drinks from a fountain of Gatorade Focus and he’s able to pull off his patented ball-juggling trick.

The strategy is solid, easy to understand and conveyed well by the spot and because of that I like the commercial. You get it. Gatorade keeps you hydrated, which helps you focus and perform better.

The part that confuses me a little is the decision to go with full animation. I have nothing against animation. I think it can be used very effectively. I just think it is an odd choice for Gatorade to use for its Tiger Focus brand. Especially since they didn’t use the animation to do anything extraordinary. There are talking animals, but that can be done with CG or even animatronics.
One reason I can think to use animation is because they couldn’t get Tiger for a shoot. With his knee injury and rehab, were they not able to get him? Seems like a stretch, but maybe that was the reason to go with animation this time.

Either way it’s an interesting commercial that speaks to the consumer in an effective manner.

What do you think about this commercial? What do you think the reason for choosing animation was?

-The Ultimate Account Guy

Just for kicks “Be Like Mike”

Gatorade’s Quick Strike

dennisbernhard — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Tiger Woods put a stamp on his comeback recently with a Tiger like come from behind victory. Gatorade wasted no time capitalizing on this latest fist pumping moment. They did exactly what they should have done. They grabbed the ultimate snapshot of the round, the ubiquitous fist pump, placed a simple, attention grabbing line of copy, and boom, they have an attention grabbing print ad.

As an account guy, I like to see companies and agencies being light on their feet and grabbing a moment in time that could have easily slipped by. Tiger has done this dozens of times. Sinking an important put, throwing out the fist pump and giving Stevie a hug is nothing new to Tiger. Except this time, it comes on the heels of a reconstructed knee and two weeks before one of the most anticipated Masters tournaments in recent history.

I tip my hat to Gatorade and their agency for being quick and resourceful.

What do you think about this ad? Does it do a Gatorade justice?

-The Ultimate Account Guy

The Marketing Power of Tiger Woods Is Amazing

dennisbernhard — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Tiger Woods has been out of golf for the last eight months recovering from knee surgery. And now he’s back and advertisers want to make sure you know it.

Golf and the PGA Tour existed without him. They managed to hold everything together and put out a good product for the last eight months. I understand that golf was around way before Tiger, and it will be around way after Tiger. But never have golf and the PGA Tour been more popular. Tiger is such an integral part of golf and the PGA Tour that I found three different ads celebrating his return in the last two days.

The first is a TV spot from Nike showing all of the happy competitors celebrating their time to shine while Tiger is out. And then reality hits them as Tiger walks into the locker room and steals the glory from their grasp.

The third is a print layout in this week’s Sports Illustrated by Gatorade. Another simply stated phrase. “Welcome Back Tiger”. In the upper right hand corner is the Gatorade Tiger (his flavor) logo. This is probably a client directed add in. But notice even in this logo Tiger is bigger than Gatorade.

All three ads have one thing in common. They push their products aside to celebrate Tigers return. Of course these companies are looking at this as a chance to garner a little good will and do a little branding at the same time.

But what it really says to me is that golf needs Tiger Woods. It says these advertisers need Tiger Woods. It says that Tiger Woods is a very powerful marketing tool.

What do you think about these ads? Are they a waste of money for the advertiser? Does the branding and good will from these spots justify the costs?

-The Ultimate Account Guy