Gatorade has a long tradition of sponsoring sports. Currently, Gatorade sponsors 7 Argentines for London 2012. The problem is in the country of Maradona and Messi and where the Olympic games broadcast never reached 1 rating point, the Olympic athletes are totally unknown. How can we change that? By intentionally making a major mistake to accent the problem: a big fiasco.

Gatorade launched an outdoor and print campaign to support the Olympic hopefuls. 'Fake athletes'' Images were passed off as the real ones. After 56 hours finally someone noticed. In a few hours 'the Gatorade fail' became the most discussed topic on Twitter. As planned, the athletes handled all media requests and they had captive stage to explain the strategy and their own story. Their incredible personal stories came to light and were told over and over in the media. Gatorade came back, this time showing the real athletes who now had a much deserved recognition. In October, 2011, Argentine enjoyed its best performance ever in the Pan-American games. Most of the athletes qualified for London 2012. Unimaginably, the live broadcast of the Pan-American games reached the same rating levels as Football matches in Argentina. Upon returning, the President received the new heroes. The event was broadcasted nationally for the first time ever. In the span of a month the athletes received 2-to-3-times more media coverage than they had in their entire career. Olympian Braian Toledo starred in one of Cristina Kirchner presidential re-election campaign spots.

On September the 1st 2011, we ran an outdoor and print campaign in the main newspapers and sports dailies introducing Gatorade as a sponsor of the Olympic athletes, starring Walter Pérez, Germán Chiaraviglio, Paula Pareto and Braian Toledo. But we didn’t use real pictures of those athletes. Instead, we replaced them with pictures of fake athletes. And then we waited. It took 56 hours before someone noticed about it and shared it on Twitter. The 'Gatorade fail' became the most discussed topic in the Nation.To keep the focus on the athletes, they handled all media requests. They revealed the strategy of the campaign and told their stories.2 weeks later, Gatorade formally presented the real athletes and their accolades through an outdoor, print and TV campaign.

- 1,320,000 digital impressions /17 radio interviews/ 22 TV interviews / Print coverage including 6 national newspapers and 10 leading magazines;- US$2.3m of earned media;- Most discussed topic on Twitter in Argentina;- Athletes’ visibility in the news grew extraordinarily: Paula Pareto (+305%), Walter Pérez (+96%), Julio Alsogaray (+150%), Brian Toledo (+70%). Media impressions of athlete’s comparison: Lifetime vs since campaign came out (aprox. 6 months). Source: Google news. - The live broadcast of the Pan-American games had rating peaks only comparable to Football games in Argentina.The campaign generated a public uproar that contributed to generate historical moments for the athletes: - The President of the Nation received them in the House of Government and it was broadcasted live. This was the first national broadcast of its kind;- One of the athletes, Braian Toledo, was chosen to star in one of the spots of Cristina Kirchner during her campaign for the presidential re-elections in November 2011. The spot was titled 'Braian’s strength'.