Find Your Chances

I’ve been watching more NFL football games than usual these past few weeks since the Philadelphia Eagles are (amazingly) still alive in the playoffs. This means, I’ve been seeing more beer, erectile dysfunction, and pick up truck commercials than I would on a normal basis.  I certainly don’t mind sitting through these commercials because I completely understand these companies are reaching their target audience in these time slots.  What I can’t stand is this new “G” commercial that is played at EVERY commercial break during EVERY football game.  If you haven’t seen the commercial, you can do so here before you continue to read:

If you can’t view the commercial, it is narrated by Lil Wayne who says, “The emblem of a warrior; the swagger of an athlete; A Champion AND a Dynasty; Gifted; Golden; Genuine; Glorious; A lower case god; The greatest of all time; The heart, hustle and soul of the game.” While the narration is going on, sports icons, including Dwayne Wade, Derek Jeter, Bill Russell, Muhammed Ali and many more, scroll across the screen. They’re followed by three men in white masks and the commercial ends with a capital “G.”

Sure, the commercial peaked my interest.  So What’s “G”?  But that was about it. My curiosity stopped there. I wasn’t directed to a website to find out more and there was no follow up commercial in the subsequent days or weeks to explain what “G” meant.

I finally came across an article in the Wall Street Journal last week that explained “G” stood for Gatorade.  Ok, so I understand the goal of Gatorade’s new advertising campaign is to drive people to the Internet to learn what “G” means, connect the Gatorade sports drink to historic sports figures, and get people excited about Gatorade again.  However, there are three main reasons why I believe that Gatorade’s new “G” campaign is an ineffective communications campaign.

1. There is no “call to action” in this advertising campaign. Although many Gen Xers and Yers typically interact with more than one media at a time (i.e. watch television while texting while checking Facebook), not everyone sitting on their couch is going to get up to research what “G” is on the Internet and by the time they do get up from the couch, they will have forgotten all about “G.” Plus, there is no indication what viewers should actually do after watching the commercial.  Obviously, Gatorade wants you to buy their product, but no where in the commercial do I even get the hint they’re trying to persuade me to do that.

2. “G” already has several mainstream meanings. “G” can stand for a thousand dollars and is used as the symbol for gravity.  If you want to designate an original symbol to stand for your brand — pick something original!  Otherwise, it just makes your audience confused.

3. Television is meant to be entertaining, not perplexing. I (and I know many of you) watch television to be entertained, which should not require a lot of critical thinking. People have been problem solving at their job all day.  The last thing they want to do in the evening or on the weekend is continue to exercise those brain cells.  Tell them what you want them to know — don’t ask them a question and hope they’ll figure out the answer on their own.

Agree? Disagree?  Let me know.