• by August 26, 2008

Dennis Ryan, executive creative director; Doug Behm, group creative director; Jon Flannery, group creative director; Greg Oreskovich, writer; David Doensch, art director; Steve Drifka, art director; Tom Cronin, producer; Katie Juras, producer

When mainstream media reports your viral video as real news, you must have done something right. Gatorade created "Ball Girl," a clip devoid of advertising unless you look closely at the end of the snippet, posted it on YouTube, and let the views pile up. The concept is simple. A minor league baseball game is under way and a player has hit a line drive deep into left field. The outfielder remains in place and watches the ball girl make an unbelievable leap off the wall to catch the foul ball. She casually returns to her seat, where a bottle of Gatorade, the lone piece of advertising, rests beside her. The leap is unbelievable and was quickly revealed as fake, but not before news outlets, including abc, reported it as real.