Powerade today (Feb. 25) launches the latest extension of its “It Takes More” campaign in advance of the March Madness basketball tournament, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. Along with a new TV spot, “It Takes More To Get This Far” includes content from several of the Coca-Cola brand’s name, image and likeness (NIL) partners.
A 30-second hero spot featuring a basketball player flashes back to years of practice and overcoming adversity before the player cuts down the net, a tournament tradition. The decision not to spotlight a real-life athlete follows Powerade’s recent move to message more around its product.
“We took a little bit of a shift over the last year, where in the past, we might have leaned on our athletes to tell the story,” said Tom Gargiulo, CMO of BodyArmor Sports Nutrition, the umbrella the brands Powerade and BodyArmor sit under. “Now we're using the product as the focal point of the story to show how important it could be through a person's journey.”
The spot ends with the brand’s value proposition: a claim that, after a 2023 reformulation, Powerade now boasts 50% more electrolytes compared to Gatorade’s Thirst Quencher product. While Powerade last year was the fastest growing traditional sports drink brand in the category, according to Gargiulo, directly calling out the PepsiCo category leader is in line with how the brand is working to disrupt the space.
“We're the underdog… Powerade has always been that second- or third-place player, but we want to change that paradigm,” Gargiulo said. “Last year, because of the ‘It Takes More’ campaign, because of the fact that we changed the [visual identity], because we updated the formulation, it started to give us a voice, and it started to give us a product-edge versus the competition.”
Always on the court
Created by WPP OpenX and led by Ogilvy New York, “It Takes More To Get This Far” spans connected TV, digital, social, programmatic, out-of-home and retail extensions running throughout the NCAA basketball tournaments, where it will show up as part of experiential activations. The diverse marketing mix is intended to engage with consumers whose attention levels will vary across the month.
“We want to make sure that we have that always-on presence so when they're fully engaged, we're there, and when we're not necessarily top of mind, we're also there,” Gargiulo said.
University of Connecticut forward Alex Karaban, University of Arizona guard Caleb Love and North Carolina State University guard Saniya Rivers are featured in social content, and the effort will eventually feature an exclusive track by Louisiana State player and rapper Flau'jae Johnson that will extend the campaign beyond sports.
“Especially with the younger generations coming in, they're expecting more not only from their products, but they're expecting more from influencers and the people that they look up to,” Gargiulo explained of the musical effort. “It's important for us to walk that fine line of not only focusing on hardcore sports, but also looking at entertainment as well as a way to connect with our consumers.”
