Gatorade's campaign utilized geo-targeted ads, in partnership with Google Maps, to help people in India find available spaces to play sports.
Gatorade set out to become a platform that fuels everyone — beginner, everyday player, or professional athlete — to play more. The brand wanted to create meaning in the everyday lives of sports-playing Indians by solving a problem in their contextual sporting reality.
As a nation of 1.4 billion, only two percent of people in India play sports due to a lack of space. Seventy-six percent of Indians cite a lack of space as the main reason they do not play sports, especially in urban cities. Open space is urbanized, expensive, inaccessible (far away or pay-to-play), or limiting. These circumstances created a striking gap between a rapidly growing intent to play more and rapidly decreasing open spaces to play in.
Gatorade, with agency partner Leo Burnett India, aimed to create a solution for lack of space to play within the chaotic space of crowded cities. In doing so, the campaign sought to improve brand health metrics (awareness, consideration, and consumption), improve brand perception metrics, and increase sales and profit.
Gatorade's mission is to be a platform that fuels everyone to play more. To embody this vision, the brand launched the "Turf Finder" initiative. Taking the campaign beyond traditional advertising, this on-ground activation transformed city streets into unexpected urban playgrounds, showcasing Gatorade's commitment to supporting all levels of athletic activities.
Gatorade sought to create a practical solution that could realistically address the lack of space and allow anyone, anywhere, to play more.
To target effectively, Gatorade segmented India's sporting enthusiasts by subgroups:
Turf Finder was crafted to solve for lack of space in hyper-local contexts. The brand's approach was to regionally advertise its turfs through contextual content and leverage on-turf content to create hype across digital media.
Gatorade initiated a three-pronged communication plan:
The Gatorade Turf Finder campaign's execution and enabling technology were critical to achieving results. Leveraging historical and real-time data from Google Maps, Gatorade identified optimal times and locations to set up pop-up sports courts, maximizing visibility and engagement. The microsite, integrated with Google Maps, facilitated user interactions by helping them find and book these spaces, thereby driving app usage and engagement.
Approximately 19 percent of the campaign's budget was allocated to digital media. This was designed to maximize reach and engagement among its target audience — young adults aged 18 to 34 who were highly active on digital platforms. Digital media, including social media ads, YouTube content, and influencer collaborations, allowed for precise targeting of fitness enthusiasts, optimizing the brand's limited spend for maximum impact.
The multi-media approach included earned media through news channel and newspaper coverage, further amplifying the campaign's reach and credibility. OOH placements in high-traffic areas complemented digital efforts, ensuring a cohesive and widespread campaign presence.
The turfs were modular, state-of-the-art set-ups that could be easily assembled and dismantled to ensure maximum play time, complete with the complete sporting apparatus needed to play. To inform people of the upcoming turf locations, Gatorade used geo-targeted ads 48 hours prior to the turf drop, with a microsite to let people track the turf drops.
The campaign demonstrated the effectiveness of real-time data and digital precision in engaging fitness enthusiasts. Integration of social media, influencer collaborations, and multimedia content created a robust, engaging ecosystem, amplifying brand awareness and deepening consumer connections. This success underscored the value of data-driven strategies in maximizing reach and engagement, setting the stage for future initiatives.
Gatorade Turf Finder reimagined urban spaces of play. A futuristic and practical solution to a new-age problem, Turf Finder was a culmination of data-innovation, behavioral insight, and cutting-edge sports engineering.
Gatorade Turf Finder inspired state government bodies such as Gurgaon and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations to partner with it as part of the "Fit India Movement," launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to encourage Indians to become more active.
