Close Friends Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez Become Fierce Competitors in Gatorade's Largest Global Campaign

Gatorade is making a big push into the global world of football with the brand's largest international campaign in its 50-year history. At the center of the campaign is an epic story of two FC Barcelona teammates—Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez—who are close friends on and off the field, except when they join their national teams during certain parts of the year (Argentina and Uruguay, respectively). Then, they transform into fierce competitors. [kickout id="1"] "Luis and I are very competitive; we always want to win, so we put aside our strong friendship when we compete against each other," Messi said in a statement. "Taking care of our bodies is very important and we focus on proper sports nutrition and the hydration. Gatorade is our key partner who helps us in all this." Messi and Suárez were the perfect fit for Gatorade's competitive idea according to the marketing team due to the nature of their real-life friendship that must be put on hold as their national teams are major rivals. "It happens every now and then because of the international calendar that they happen to play each other on opposing teams in one of the biggest rivalries," Tiago Pinto, global marketing director at Gatorade, said. "We thought this was a great angle for a brand like ours to engage in this conversation with our consumers, that you have to prepare to be the best at anytime because in one situation you can be playing with your teammate helping him play better, but at a later date he's on the opposing side." The campaign, "Everything Changes," also celebrates a major first for Gatorade. It marks the release a product designed for a specific sport. The brand is releasing Gatorade Football Energy specifically for soccer. Pinto noted that Gatorade has been working closely with global football teams over the past few years (including FC Barcelona) to develop something just for soccer players. "We identified this need over the years because this is a game that is quite different from our heritage of American sports where there are a lot of stops and a lot of opportunities for these guys to keep hydrated and energized. The sport of football is different," Pinto said. Gatorade Football Energy, which comes in lemon, mango and orange flavors, will roll out for U.S. athletes and will be for sale in retail locations in Mexico and Brazil in 2018, with plans for further expansion in Latin America in the coming months. In addition to the longer spot, Gatorade also created a 30-second Spanish ad as part of the global campaign. Fans will also begin to see print, digital and social media components roll out across several Latin American countries, Western Europe, Asia, Mexico and the U.S. Gatorade calls the campaign its largest global campaign because it's running in more markets than any previous campaign. [kickout id="2"] Finally, Gatorade is also giving consumers and football fans a chance to participate in the campaign. For the third year in a row, the brand is hosting its annual Gatorade 5v5 Football Tournament. Each year the tournament brings in over 2,000 teams from 19 countries in Latin America, North America and Europe. Some of the best teams will have a chance to compete in the Gatorade 5v5 Global Championship, help in Barcelona, Spain in May. CREDITS Client: Gatorade Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day Chief Creative Officer: Renato Fernandez Global Creative Director: Doug Menezes Global Creative Director: Mark Peters Associate Creative Director: Bruno Acanfora Associate Creative Director: Ariel Abramovici Director of Production: Brian O'Rourke Executive Producer: Guia Iacomin Senior Producer: Kaitlin Moore Associate Producer: Jack Cutler Managing Director: Jerico Dig Cabaysa Brand Director: Robyn Morris Brand Manager: Gabi Marino Associate Brand Manager: Spencer Audet Group Planning Director: Scott MacMaster Global Planning Director: Martin Ramos Jr. Planner: Ryan Hagen Director of Business Affairs: Robin Rossi Talent Payment Manager: Kevin Castro Senior Traffic Operations Manager: Judy Brill MEDIA AGENCY - OMD Production Company: Sauvage Films Director: Ernest Desumbila Director of Photography: Borja López Díaz Executive Producer: Eva Laffitte Producer: Javier Deudero Editorial House: Work Editorial Executive Producer: Marlo Baird Producer: Marguerite Olivelle Editor: Jono Griffith Assistant Editor: Keith Hamm VFX STUDIO: ALT VFX Executive Producer: Chris Fieldhouse Producer: Oden Roberts Producer: Jess Calvert Creative Director: Nick Lines Flame Comp Lead: Jan Cilliers Nuke Comp Lead: Marti Pujol Nuke Comp Lead: Murray Smallwood FX TD: Chris Gardner VFX Coordinator: Jayce Attewell VFX Coordinator: Abbie Willis VFX Assist: Sandell Stangel COLOR: The Mill Executive Producer: Thatcher Peterson Senior Producer: Liza Kerlin Colorist: Adam Scott SOUND DESIGN: Stimmung Executive Producer: Kristina Iwankiw Sound Designer: Gus Koven Assistant Sound Designer: Nick Tuttle FINAL MIX: Formosa Executive Producer: Lauren Cascio Mixer: John Bolen Assistant Mixer: Hermann Thumann MUSIC “Bellbottoms” Composers: Jon Spencer, Judah Bauer, Russell Simins Performer: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Intro Music” Music company: Pivot Audio Composer : Guy Amitai Music Producer : Neil Devlin, Jonas Holst Rec. Engineer/Mixer : Dana Roth

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Close Friends Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez Become Fierce Competitors in Gatorade's Largest Global Campaign

The new campaign promotes the brand's first sport-specific product

Katie Richards

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Katie Richards