W+K Portland recently launched a new “Power Through” campaign for Powerade, documenting a series of challenges faced by young athletes and showing how the sports drink is there to help them every step along the way.
The situations which athletes must “Power Through” range from overcoming injury to underfunded athletic departments to a young woman who wants to try out for the football team to a young man dealing with the repercussions of coming out to his team. Each spot is set to dramatic (perhaps melodramatic is more accurate as it sounds like it could at home in a soap opera) background music and ends with the tagline “Power Through” and a shot of a bottle of Powerade.
In “Power Through Expectations” a coach tells the aforementioned aspiring female football player that no matter how good or strong she is, he just doesn’t see how it’s going to work out. “Officially I can’t tell you not to try out, but realistically sweetie, I just don’t see how it’s going to happen,” he says. The condescending coach in the spot acts almost as a stand in for doubters and naysayers of all stripes, his obnoxious “sweetie” standing in for all the types of expectations the young woman most overcome to succeed at a man’s sport. As in other spots, W+K cast an actual athlete — Gabby Ferrel, defensive lineman for the Independent Women’s Football League’s New York Sharks, rather than a professional actor.
The campaign addresses other contemporary issues, including open homosexuality in the locker room in “Power Through Preconceptions.” That spot features another coach, telling a young athlete, “The guys in the locker room, I don’t think they’re going to be comfortable with it,” in response to him coming out.
It’s an interesting approach for the brand and even the spots that don’t have such easily hateable detractors, such as a medical professional telling an athlete she’ll probably have to sit out the season due to an injury, derive their motivation through others second guessing them. The message seems to be that the best athletes have to overcome both obstacles and haters, and that they’re all the better for it. That may or may not be a message tied to the brand, but it is one that W+K hopes young athletes will relate to and now associate with Powerade.
Credits:
Agency: W+K Portland
Creative Directors: Max Stinson / Erik Fahrenkopf
Copywriter: Adam Tetreault
Art Director: Derrick Ho
Additional Art Director ‘Limits’ and ‘Doubts’: Zach Madrigal
Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz
Senior Producer: Lindsay Reed
Producer: Ricara Stokes
Assistant Producer: Tiffany Golden
Account Management: Rob Archibald | Analysa Cantu | Michael Dalton
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff | Joe Staples
Project Management: John Radaza
Business Affairs: Connery Obeng
PRODUCTION
Production Company: @Radical Media
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Executive Producer: Donna Portaro
Head of Production: Frank Dituri
Producer: Cody Ryder
Director of Photography: Christopher Blauvelt
EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: Work Editorial
Editor: Rich Orrick
Assistant Editor: Arielle Zakowski
Producer: Marlo Baird
VFX Company: Electric Theatre Collective
Artist: Ant Walsham
Executive Producer: Kate Hitchings
MUSIC + SOUND DESIGN
Sound Company: Joint Editorial
Sound Designer: Noah Woodburn
MIX
Mix Company: Joint Editorial
Mixer: Noah Woodburn
Producer: Sarah Fink