Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Gatorade rebranding


It makes sense when you find out that Gatorade is a division of Pepsi Co. Mountain Dew got shortened to "Mtn Dew", and they're going even further with labeling Gatorade simply "G" (with a smaller version of their lightning bolt logo). A commercial was released on January 1, 2009 advertising the new G without even mentioning "Gatorade":



"For Gatorade, G represents the heart, hustle and soul of athleticism and will become a badge of pride for anyone who sweats," according to a press release. With new slogans printed on the bottles such as "Bring It" for Gatorade Fierce, "Be Tough" for Gatorade X-Factor, "Shine On" for Gatorade AM, "No Excuses" for Gatorade Rain, "Focus" for Gatorade Tiger (after Tiger Woods), and "G2" for Low Calorie.

Their goal is to market toward the various types of athletes and active people. "You can't speak to [them] with a 'one size fits all' mentality," said Craig Horswill, a senior research employee.

I have mixed feelings about the new design. I like the taglines, and I think the typeface gives it a sporty competitive feel, but I don't like how the words are divided up. It makes it harder to read and leaves me wanting something more from that kind of order than merely the title (it could be better if the words spelled something vertically as well?). I don't like how they shortened Gatorade to one letter. I think a lot of people will be confused. It just doesn't sound right.

"Hey Mom, could you pick up some G at the store before practices begin?"

"Oh, I'd better put my G in the fridge so it gets cold before I go to the gym."

"Did you see after the game when they dumped the whole cooler of G on the coach?!"

At least the plastic bottle shape and the lightning bolt logo still identifies the drink as Gatorade. I think this design could grow on me if I get past the little annoyances.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

A big mistake...does drinking it really hit the G-spot?