Participation in sport drastically declines once individuals leave High School. Family, career and increasing obligations ultimately replace sport. And according to US government statistics, 7 in 10 adults over age 30 don’t exercise regularly. And thus, aren’t using Gatorade like they used to.

Our objective was to reignite the athletic spark within this group of former Gatorade consumers.

INSIGHT: No matter how great they are or how many championships they’ve won, every athlete has one game or moment they wish they could change the outcome of. But in sport, there are no second chances. We wondered, what if we could break this rule of sport. What if we used Gatorade to fuel second chances?

EXECUTION: Gatorade brought back the original players (now in their mid 30s) from two 1993 high school football teams to replay their rivalry game that ended in a 7-7 tie. We created a five part online documentary series following the players’ journey.

Created news, not advertsing. Generated US$3,415,255 worth of earned media (from just US$225K in paid media.) A 14,000% ROIGame sold out in 90 minutes. Tickets fetched 6X their face value on eBay.

Stadium was at full capacity with 15,000 fans attended.Regional Gatorade sales increased 63%Players vastly improved their healthNamed one of CNN’s Top Stories of 2009.Picked up as a documentary television series by Fox Sports Net. Season 1 content aired nationally to 90 million households.

Thousands of nominations from former athletes around the US have been submitted for upcoming seasons of Replay.

What we did was weave the DNA of our brand into the DNA of culture to find more authentic connections with our audience. Our actions spoke louder than our words: 1. Getting people to experience what the Gatorade brand stands for – A Catalyst for Athletic Achievement. 2. Demonstrating Gatorade’s functional reason for being – Fueling Athletic Performance.

This promotion wasn’t just another page from the same Gatorade marketing playbook of the past. It was more than simply saying something from the TV. It was about getting off the couch and doing something.