BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Gatorade Teams Up With Serena Williams To Keep Girls Playing Sports

This article is more than 6 years old.

This week Gatorade launched a new spot featuring tennis star, Serena Williams, with a clear message to girls: keep playing sports. While it's probably not going to win any awards, the strategy of this ad is terrific and the execution is plenty good to inspire. Have a look:

The importance of sports, not winning.

What I love most about this spot is that Serena, as a thoughtful and loving mom, has sports in perspective. She says, "Baby girl, I won't mind if you play tennis badly. I won't mind if choose to never pick up a racket. But I beg you, in this game of life, please keep playing."

That's as high level a view of competition and sports as is possible, tying sports to life itself.

But it gets better. "Just like it taught me, sports will teach you to be strong." And the rest of the spot is grounded in the benefits of sports to girls as they grow up.

Serena Williams is one of the most competitive (and strong) athletes of any gender. We see her in any context and we think, winning. Yet here she is with her own newborn daughter - actually I learned that the baby is a stand-in as Serena's child wasn't feeling well that day, but whatever - and she's not putting pressure on her baby to win at all costs, but to participate in sports. Just participate.

And the fact she's whispering these principles to her baby, who clearly isn't old enough to understand, tells us this is something this particular mom truly believes and is going to instill in her child long-term.

If the mom in this spot were anyone else, it wouldn't have the same power. But because it's Serena, the icon of mowing down competition and winning, the "I don't care if you play tennis badly" message is all the more profound. We're left thinking Serena got plenty out of sports even without all the winning.

Then add to it the cut-aways of currently successful women when they were playing sports as children - Tory Birch, Allison Williams, Elaine Welteroth, etc. - and we've got our proof.

Gatorade

Smart from a sports drink.

Touting the importance of sports to a growing girl's life is not an original strategy. Nike has been doing it for years. But I would argue that this argument is more of a "cause" than a message any one brand can own.

Sure, it isn't a "cause" in the classic sense, but we all know by now that kids who play sports - including boys - are healthier, less likely to smoke, less likely to get pregnant, tend to get better grades, etc. So call it what you want but if society is better off with girls playing sports then it may as well be called a cause.

And let's face it, the more people playing sports the better off any sports brand will be, Gatorade included. Grow the category, maintain your already-dominant share (roughly 75% for Gatorade) and the brand will see more growth than its competitors. Gatorade's agenda is clear with this spot.

But that's what makes this ad - and others like it - so exciting to ad geeks like me. When a brand can intertwine its financial interest with a social cause that improves the world in some way, then why not? Makes me wonder if David Baldwin, the writer of "The Belief Economy: How to Give a damn, stop selling, and create buy-in," would approve.

To me, the way the topic is served up in this particular spot, pardon the pun, gives it emotion, drama and heart, and does so through Gatorade's existing brand asset, Serena Williams. As a viewer I appreciate Gatorade, as a brand, for celebrating girls playing sports (the "cause").

Even if this ad does nothing to actually motivate girls to play sports, it cements Gatorade's current relationship with all athletes. Gatorade is taking a stand. That's good, smart branding from a leader in a category.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website