In a fusion of sports and music culture, Gatorade has launched its new “Lose More. Win More.” campaign, an extension of the brand’s “Is It In You?” platform. Featuring hip-hop icon Kendrick Lamar, this collaboration represents the first time Gatorade has incorporated a musician into its creative, signaling a new direction for the brand’s marketing strategy.
Developed by creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, this spot showcases the hard work and dedication of a roster of sports stars, including basketball sensations Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson, Jayson Tatum, and Luka Dončić, as well as football player Shedeur Sanders.
The campaign debuted during the NBA Playoffs on April 19 and will be amplified throughout the summer, complemented by additional 30-second spots and localized out-of-home activations.
Here’s what iSpot’s Creative Assessment platform revealed on actual viewer response to the :60 spot.
The Details:
- While the :60 “Lose More. Win More.” sparked consideration among American consumers a few points ahead of the :30 “Name on My Back,” neither new Gatorade spot was more persuasive than the average sports drink ad over the past year:
- BodyArmor’s :60 “Choose Better” best boosted consumer intent of the newly released ads in the category, with 60% of the audience positively persuaded (vs a 55% category norm).
- iSpot’s Creative Assessment analyzed three years of Gatorade ads to pinpoint the winning creative elements that most influence consumer intent. The Optimal Profile below reveals the features that set high-performing ads apart:
- While communicating a sense of Change/something new is the single most distinguishing aspect of Gatorade ads driving higher intent, “Lose More. Win More.” significantly underperformed the brand’s Optimal profile in this regard (as well as in conveying Information—a lesser but still key influencer).
- In fact, the :60 spot did not surpass the brand’s Optimal Profile on any key KPIs and as such, would not be anticipated to deliver above-norm outcomes in driving consumer consideration vs other brand ads.
- While engaging enough, the lack of product focus did not motivate consumers to the same level as other Gatorade ads have.
- While communicating a sense of Change/something new is the single most distinguishing aspect of Gatorade ads driving higher intent, “Lose More. Win More.” significantly underperformed the brand’s Optimal profile in this regard (as well as in conveying Information—a lesser but still key influencer).
- The new Gatorade ads were, however, the most empowering within the competitive set and were easily relatable:
- The spots trailed norms in delivering Information, which the BodyArmor spot did most successfully.
- “Name on My Back” struggled to break through on a comparative basis, with Attention and Likeability just at norm. The “Lose More. Win More.” anthem led in breakthrough and Watchability.
- The spots trailed norms in delivering Information, which the BodyArmor spot did most successfully.
- As such, “Lose More. Win More.” represents the better option for broad media support profiling as an excellent brand reminder and entertaining creative that will at least support if not build business outcomes:
- Viewer sentiment on “Lose More. Win More.” :60 reflects that for many, the current music and nostalgic sports scenes were a good combination with the narration/audio track grabbing Attention. The inclusion of women’s sports was noticed as a positive while some didn’t like the focus on athletes only or found it to be dated/overused.
Sample comments on “Lose More. Win More.” :60
“I loved the ad, the female representation would make me buy ten packs of Gatorade. The song choice was very appealing to the younger generation, keeping people enticed. Showing the good and bad, plus incorporating history made it very interesting from start to finish. As someone who loves basketball, this is an amazing ad.”
Female 16-20
“The old clip of wanting to hydrate better than just regular water was the only thing useful in that entire video. Everything else was just, again, flashiness of some random rapper dude. It’s just annoying. Nobody ever talks about the product anymore. They just show people doing things either wearing it or consuming it.”
Male 21-35
“It feels corporate. That’s what I really hate. I want you guys to make fun and engaging commercials. Something worth my time for pausing my video like your 2000’s commercials.”
Male 16-20
“I appreciate Kendrick’s voiceover and the use of female athlete representation. I’m disappointed there is STILL a lack a disabled representation in this area.”
Female 21-35
“I think maybe it would be more effective to market Gatorade to normal people in ads than just showing it with professional athletes. Also, I found the sweaty men in the ad fairly gross and that kind of makes me think Gatorade is geared towards sweaty men.”
Female 16-20
“Boring ad, that whole cliché of showing people where you come from or whatever is so played out. It’s in movies. It’s in TV show arcs. It’s too played out. Lost interest throughout the entire ad.”
Male 21-35
“I really like the visuals of all the athletes. And the music selection was top-tier Kendrick Lamar, perfectly complements all the athletes’ games in the style of photos they were in.”
Male 21-35
“I loved the famous people of color and the Kendrick Lamar song playing while it talked about what more you can do drinking Gatorade. It was awesome!”
Female 36-49
- Second-by-second trace shows higher early engagement for the :30 “Name on My Back” linked to the early and clear product identification offered viewers:
- Comments point to a ‘gross’ factor for the amount of sweat shown in the Gatorade :60 among some viewers, perhaps hindering its use as a brand identifier.
- Neither new Gatorade spot placed as the best-received Gatorade ad of the past year in overall response:
- Liquid IV led the category in this regard with a :30 fall ad.
- For the 30 days ending 5/5/25, Gatorade held a second place SOV in the sports and energy drink category on both linear and streaming TV, at just over 30% and trailing Red Bull in each channel:
- Lamar’s audio track and voiceover certainly helped the new Gatorade work stand out in the sports drink category but Powerade also brought the drama via an operatic audio track in their :30 March Madness “The Ladder” spot:
- The new Gatorade campaign saw its weakest appeal with Hispanic viewers.
Ineffective creative, even if delivered to the right audience, results in missed opportunity and performance shortfalls. Great creative delivered poorly also results in failed campaigns.
Schedule a demo to find out how your brand can partner with iSpot to quickly solve both challenges simultaneously, delivering high-performing creative while boosting the effectiveness of planning and in-market execution to achieve—and outperform—campaign objectives.
Creative Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day