• by OMMA Magazine Writers , September 15, 2009

OMD
PepsiCo / Gatorade
Support Online Link
Username: TMVNOMMA2009 Password: OMDOMMA09
Finalist Use of Gaming

Some in-game ad placements are no-brainers, and putting Gatorade in NBA 2K9 was as seamless an alignment of product with basketball as one can imagine. What did take deep creative thought was designing a Gatorade Thirst Meter that integrated the product's core benefit -hydration - into the performance of the players, and the coach's decisions. The brand even made player substitution recommendations based on hydration levels. The payoff for clever in-game integration is out-of-game total recall, with 82% of players who recalled the brand being able to identify a specific in-game element. Gatorade was not only in the game but part of the experience.

OMD: Pranav Pandit, Group Director of Digital; Mike Haywood, Strategy Supervisor; Ryan Peterson, Project Manager, Ignition Factory Gaming; Dario Raciti, Director, Ignition Factory Gaming.