1. “What’s G? It’s the emblem of a warrior. It’s the
swagger of an athlete. The champion and a dynas-
ty. It’s gifted. Genius. Genuine. Good-seeking. Gold-
en. And glorious. It is a lower case god. What’s G? It
is the heart, hustle and soul of the game. That’s G.”
History
In the summer of 1965, the University of Florida football players were experiencing dif-
ficulties winning- mainly because so many of the players were being affected by heat
and in turn, heat-related illnesses. The assistant coach of the football team decided to
sit down with university physicians and ask them what was causing the football players
to ‘wilt’ and what could be done.
Researchers Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. H. James Free and Dr. Alejandro de
Quesada discovered that players were sweating out important fluids and electrolytes
that were not being replaced and that large amounts of carbohydrates the players’ bod-
ies used for energy were not being replenished. The team decided to take their findings
into the lab and eventually formulated a balanced carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage
that would replace all the key components lost by Gator players when sweating and ex-
ercising. The drink was dubbed ‘Gatorade’ and to this day the Gatorade Company con-
tinues to search for and study new and innovative ways to improve athlete performance
and enable athletes to always perform at their peak.
The Promise
Gatorade centers on the idea that when it comes to op-
timal performance and that last stretch or that winning
hoop- water just isn’t enough. In research studies, it was
shown that when players switched from water to Gatorade,
their performance improved in the following areas: abil-
ity to exercise longer before fatigue, maintaining a faster
sprint speed, and showing higher explosive power in the
second (or most important) half of a competition period.
This is attributed to the key electrolytes—minerals sodium,
potassium and chloride. Unlike water, Gatorade ensures
replenishment of these electrolytes when they are lost in
sweat to better equip athletes for that road to victory.

2. With its widely-recognized orange lightning bolt logo, Gatorade aims to exude the im-
age of power, endurance, and energy that is its mission stated above. Gatorade preva-
lently uses color (the athlete with his/her Gatorade drink) on black in order to make
the image stand out more. Sweating athletes are also commonly depicted in com-
mercials or print ads, often in moments such as that last stretch of the race, that last
winning hoop which provoke ideas that Gatorade is what pushes athletes through the
most important leg of the race or competition. In essence, drinking Gatorade produces
winners.
The G Campaign
A few years ago, Gatorade launched its G campaign. The
“What’s G?” commercials featured on television became
widely debated and talked about because they bore no
correlations with The Gatorade Company and simply de-
picted a line of people and the following voiceover: “What’s
G? It’s the emblem of a warrior. It’s the swagger of an ath-
lete. The champion and a dynasty. It’s gifted. Genius. Gen-
uine. Good-seeking. Golden. And glorious. It is a lower case
god. What’s G? It is the heart, hustle and soul of the game.
That’s G.” This became a successful campaign because it
created much buzz as people tried to figure out what “G”
meant and which company launched these commercials,
which brought free publicity and advertising to the com-
pany for its new G line and logo. As depicted in the words
of the commercial voiceover, again it is seen that Gatorade
aims to create an image of power, energy and endurance, almost like a “bottle of fuel
and power” that puts athletes ahead in the game.
Synonymously, Gatorade packaging of its bottles is sleek and reinforces the idea of
energy and refreshment by making the product look a bit like “power in a bottle”. In
addition, many of the different lines or flavors have names such as Prime (for starting
out strong), Perform (for hydrating and charging during the game), Recover (for rebuild-
ing fatigued muscles) as well as Focus, just to name a few.
Gatorade makes it the company mission to provide refreshment and replenishment of
key electrolytes lost during athletic performance by creating a product that is in es-
sence power, endurance and energy in a bottle for those last few most important sec-
onds that can make or break a game. Gatorade’s fueling of athletes to perform at their
optimum has been…well, pretty “G”.