The women’s soccer World Cup begins Friday and the first game for the U.S. women is scheduled for June 11.
Who better to fuel the next generation of female soccer stars than Mia Hamm, one of the most influential players in the history of sport?
Hamm, who enjoyed life as a Gatorade spokeswoman from the late 1990s through the mid-2000’s, returns to the sports drink to mentor rising star Mallory Pugh, who was named the national Gatorade Girls Player of the Year in soccer.
Part of the brand’s Sisters in Sweat initiative, the 2:37 spot directed by Biscuit Filmworks Rachel McDonald. We open with a flashback with Hamm in a stadium tunnel about to take the field, holding the hand of a girl who looks like a younger Pugh.
Hamm leans over and tells her, “Congratulations. Today is your day. You’re off to great places. You’re off and away.” It’s then we realize we’re hearing the classic Dr. Seuss story, Oh, the Place You’ll Go.
The next minute and 45 seconds shows the actress resembling Pugh exploring a soccer fantasy land created by Shape+Light, kicking and dribbling while Hamm offers voice-over advice as the sage mentor. Then comes a close-up of Pugh today, followed by a shot of her in a tunnel supposedly before a game and telling a young girl, “Every day is your day when you come out to play.” Watch below:
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The spot, from AOR TBWA\Chiat\Day, plays an important role in Gatorade’s Sisters in Sweat campaign, which aims to address the alarming dropout rate of girls in sports. According to the brand by age 17, girls are almost twice as likely to quit sports as boys are.
The goal of the sports drink’s campaign is to inspire women of all ages to just keep playing, because the rewards go way beyond championships and medals, even when they’re Olympic (or World Cup) golds.
The new spot successfully brings together the legend and the legend-in-the-making to clearly deliver the inspirational message – women support women, in sports and in everything else
Credits
Client: Gatorade
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Chief Creative Officer: Renato Fernandez
Creative Director: Mark Peters
Creative Director: Doug Menezes
Copywriter: Elizabeth Daniel
Art Director: Blair Seward
Junior Copywriter: Jamie Wynn
Junior Art Director: Gaia Elise
Executive Director of Production: Brian O’Rourke
Director of Content Production: Guia Iacomin
Senior Producer: Kaitlin Moore
Assistant Producer: Sophie Boris
Managing Director: Jerico Dig Cabaysa
Senior Account Director: Robyn Morris
Account Director: Lani Reichenbach
Management Supervisor: Gabriela Marino
Account Executive: Connor Wudrick
Group Planning Director: Scott MacMaster
Global Planning Director: Martin Ramos Planner, Joel Van Rensburg
Director of Business Affairs: Robin Rossi
Business Affairs Manager: Eugene Gandia
Director of Traffic Operations: Dessiah Maxwell
Sr. Traffic Operations Manager: Judy Brill
Media Agency: OMD
PR Agency: FleishmanHillard
TV Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Rachel McDonald
Partner/Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Holly Vega
Line Producer: Andrew Denyer
Head of Production: Mercedes Allen
Director of Photography: Jess Hall
Editorial House: Cabin Edit
Editor: Scott Butzer
Assistant Editor: Jay McConville
Managing Partner: Carr Schilling
Executive Producer: Remy Foxx
Producer: Michelle Dorsch
VFX Studio: Shape + Light
Creative Director: Rob Trent
Senior Producer: Jordan Sharon
2D Artists: Paul Heagney, Jan Cilliers, Chris DiCristo, Wes Waldron, Dave Stern
Flame Assist: Austin Lewis
3D Lead: Gavin Kelly
3D Concept Artist: Eugene Guaran
3D Generalist: DeAndre Moore
3D Coordinator: Arron Inglis
Additional 3D Artists: Sam Boyd, Mario Domingos, Sean Hunt, Cormac Kelly, Kev Ryan
Concept Artist and Lead Matte Painter: Marc Samson
Matte Painter: Rocco Gioffre
Color: Harbor Pictures
Senior Producer: Matt Olmon
Colorist: Elodie Echter
Sound Design: LSD
Executive Producer: Susie Boyojan
Sound Designers: Michael Anastasi, Kai Paquin
Final Mix: Lime Studios
Executive Producer: Susie Boyojan
Mixer: Matt Miller
Assistant Mixer: Lisa Mermelstein
Music
Composers: Pedro Bromfman & Juan Carlos Enriquez
Source: Multiple
