PepsiCo’s Gatorade division will launch a new low-calorie “lifestyle beverage,” G2, with the help of some well-known sports faces and a TV spot during Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3.
Derek Jeter, short stop and team captain of the New York Yankees, and Dwyane Wade, guard for the Miami Heat basketball team, will appear in spots that show them drinking G2 in urban settings that gradually transform into a baseball diamond and a basketball court.
The spots show that even when they’re off the field, pro athletes think about their on-field performance. The new G2 product line contains electrolytes just like Gatorade Thirst Quencher beverages, but does not include the carbohydrates that help fuel athletic performance during a game.
“With the addition of G2, Gatorade has the Super Bowl covered inside and out,” Gatorade Marketing Vice President Matt Knott said in a statement.
Last December, PepsiCo teased the G2 launch with two 15-second TV spots. Each showed the legs of an athlete dressed in street clothes walking along a city street or sidewalk. Gradually the ground beneath their feet turned into a baseball infield or a basketball hardwood floor.
New Yorkers got a live version of those teaser spots over the last week as a space in Herald Square was transformed from a typical cityscape, including a brick wall, park bench and parked car, into Jeter’s accustomed position as Yankee Stadium, complete with infield dirt. Jeter did media promotion in that spot to accompany the G2 launch. Passersby saw signage that directed them to the G2 launch Web site, http://www.drinkG2.com, for more information.
In addition to the Super Bowl spots, PepsiCo will support the product extension launch with other TV and print advertising, a sampling campaign and a Web-related fund drive for the United Way charity. For every visit to the G2 Web site between now and the end of Super Bowl Sunday, G2 will donate $1 to the charity up to $100,000. An additional $50,000 may be raised by a charity bowling challenge for pro athletes and media, to be held during the week before the game in a “G2 Lounge” set up at the Super Bowl media center in Phoenix.
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