MUMBAI: Pepsico’s sports drink brand Gatorade, in partnership with creative marketing agency Eleven and TBWA Sydney, has created a new cricket metric – Bolt Rate.
Gatorade brand ambassador Usain Bolt, the recently retired sprint king of athletics, is the face of the new measurement, which will record the players’ run speed between wickets during Australia’s upcoming summer of cricket that kicks off with the first Ashes Test slated to begin on Thursday at the Gabba.
The fastest man will then be crowned with The Gatorade Fastest Run trophy.
The integrated campaign by Eleven and TBWA that will run across PR and social over the summer of cricket was launched with a hero film featuring Bolt training with players.
The speed will be measured using Catapult GPS tracking technology, the official technology used by Cricket Australia. Players’ top speeds will be recorded with the fastest runs published for media and on Gatorade Australia’s Facebook page.
Says Andy DiLallo, chief creative officer, Eleven/TBWA Sydney: “I love the idea of Gatorade, a brand with a clear mission of achieving optimal athletic performance for its athletes, applying their focus to improving sport itself. Literally speeding up one of Australia’s most loved sports.”
Says Fiona Milliken, general manager, Eleven: “Australia is a nation of avid cricket fans and we tapped into their competitive spirit to create an innovative new way to talk about a sport with a long, proud heritage. The Bolt Rate brings speed to the game and has created a new dialogue for cricket fans.”
Says Russ Tucker, creative director, Eleven/TBWA Sydney: “Bolt is synonymous with running, so it’s refreshing to tap into his other passion, cricket. There’s a powerful story in having Usain Bolt train the Australian cricketers to run even faster as they head into the cricket season.”
Says Jamie Bruce, marketing manager, Gatorade: “We’ve been proud to support the Australia national cricket team as the official hydration partner for the last 15 years. Now, we’re excited to have created a new metric that has the potential to change the way the sport is viewed.”
