In the world of sports, it is never a surprise to see Gatorade as a major sponsor. Their product has been placed into events including NHL games, the MLB home run derby, and the Super Bowl. With that being said, not seeing Gatorade as one of the official sponsors of the 2012 Olympic games in London was a surprise. The reason for Gatorade’s absence in the 2012 London Games is because Powerade, a product of Coca-Cola, bought the sponsorship for over 100 million dollars and blocked Gatorade out. Gatorade did not fret when they were faced with this challenge. Instead of accepting defeat and letting Powerade run all of the sponsorships and advertising, Gatorade decided to respond with a commercial of their own.
In this commercial, Gatorade not only openly states that they did not sponsor the 2012 Olympics, but also to spin it into an extremely effective advertising technique. They portrayed the overall message stating that they were not there on the billboards and buses, but instead they were there “for real” inside the best athletes in the world. Gatorade did an excellent job in embracing the fact that they could not officially sponsor the event, but still being present in the advertising and overall experience of the event
In accordance, Powerade also plays an interesting role in their advertising by pointing out the fact that you may not know the athletes that they sponsor. This brings another aspect to the table that can be compared directly to Gatorade. Everyone knows the big time athletes like Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, and Usain Bolt who are sponsored by Gatorade; but there are few people who are familiar with the athletes that Powerade sponsors. Powerade decided to base their commercial on the athletes that are not as famous, but the underdogs of the world.
Coca-cola spent over 100 million dollars to sponsor the Olympics and Gatorade attempted to catch their audience’s attention with one commercial. The bigger the risk, the bigger the pay off, right? So what do you think… did Powerade come out ahead?
– Alexandra Huss, Caroline Merrill, Alyssa Morrello, Lauren Van Trigt, Dann Williams
IMC Hawks Blog 
I think Gatorade’s response to not being a sponsor at the Olympics was great. Personally I thought their response was a unique way to deal with this negative ordeal. Although, ultimately I believe Powerade did get the better deal because they were able to reach a much wider audience at the Olympics than Gatorade was able to reach with their commercial.
Looking at Gatorade vs Powerade is believe Gatorade is several steps ahead of Powerade when it comes to sponsors of athletes and sports organizations period. Gatorade is the official sponsor of the NBA, NFL and NHL. Those are three of the biggest sports in America and are viewed by the American public every time. As a consumer I am a Gatorade drinker at hand and the reason is I have seen Gatorade promoted every where and I enjoy the flavors they offer. I believe Powerade needs to get a more aggressive marketing plan and try and sponsor more sports then they can one day pass Gatorade in the revenue department.
I watched a lot of the 2012 Olympics and I don’t remember Powerade being a sponsor, which means to me, their 100 million dollars sponsor campaign was not effective. The Gatorade commercial states a lot about their brand status. They are able to claim that they are better even though they didn’t sponsor one of the biggest athletic events in the world. I don’t think Powerade could have done that if the roles were reversed. In the end Gatorade doesn’t and wont need big bucks to sell their product (compared to Powerade) because they are already in the bodies and heart of athletics.