Football club sponsorships represent an investment that has become more costly for brands year after year. Huge audiences are like a magnet for brands interested in sponsoring leagues, their championships, and clubs. Last year the TOP 10 most valuable jersey sponsorships of Europe’s 5 major leagues have reached 600 million euros, while in Latin America the betting sites phenomenon has dominated football sponsorship in the region.

With so many brands sponsoring the world’s most popular sport, it has become crucial to consider new sponsorship alternatives so that a brand can stand out in a crowded environment.

Unlike in Europe where football jerseys are “clean”, displaying just a master sponsor, most team jerseys in Latin America have turned into a “Times Square lookalike”, loaded with brand logos. The aesthetics of a kit is sacrificed but this business decision is needed to keep clubs afloat.

Today, Gatorade is an official supporter of Independiente de Medellin, one of Colombia’s most popular clubs. In a country with low per capita isotonic consumption (2,2liters/yr.), gaining foothold in football is a strategic decision to reach the masses.

Usually, supporters don’t have their logos printed on a football jersey, sponsors do. In the case of Independiente, fans find logos of dairy, beer, telco and even rum brands on it, products that have less to do with football than Gatorade.

We wanted to change that and give Gatorade a place on Independiente’s jersey that would do justice to a brand so vital to sports.

Without sweat there would be no Gatorade and without it clubs and their players couldn't give their best to be victorious. Sweat is the signature of genuine effort and that's also the core of our insight:

Why settle for a cluttered and expensive spot on the outside of a football jersey when we are talking about Gatorade, a hydration expert that knows that sweat comes from inside each of us?

That's the idea. Transform Gatorade into the official sponsor of Independiente's sweat.

Sweat comes from the inside of a football jersey, not its outside. A unique placement, capable of giving a supporter brand the attention and status of a master sponsor.

But hold on. How will someone notice a logo that is inside a jersey?

Gatorade is an isotonic drink; it replenishes all the minerals and liquids that are lost on sweat whenever people practice a sports activity. Everybody sweats, but professional football players sweat even more intensely during the 90 minutes of a match. If we wanted to display Gatorade on Independiente's jersey in a unique way for the first time, we would have exactly that timespan to do so.

Proprietary Visibility. That’s what we were after strategically speaking.

Gatorade would have to be displayed in a way so that its core benefits could be evident to anyone:

Functional: the best hydration for when we need (and sweat) the most

Emotional: a brand that drives us forward into achieving our goals

Gatorade is part of the game, so it knows the ropes. It's no secret that football players dry the sweat from their faces with their jerseys. They bring the bottom part of it towards their faces revealing the inside part of the jersey to everyone.

We especially prepared 50 kits of Independiente for the match against America de Cali that happened on Easter Sunday, a special occasion to reach the thousands of fans at the Atanasio Girardot stadium and the millions watching the match online and on TV. The Gatorade logo was printed upside down on the inside of the jersey, so that whenever a player lifted it to dry the sweat, the logo would be properly seen by the fans at the stadium and those watching.

We created a genuinely proprietary sponsor platform and from now on, the sweaty side of football belongs to Gatorade.

The match that took place on March 31 triggered a massive response from people and the press. Gatorade reached the number one spot in Colombia's trending topics on the night of the match. Our paid media reached 750.000 people.

The following day, seven of the main newspapers from Antioquia (Medellin's state) spontaneously published releases mentioning the unusual sponsorship, reaching 619.514 people. Also, on April 1, the jersey was shown on the Pulzo Deportes YouTube channel by Clara Támara, the show’s host. The CTR to the video reached 4%.

On April 4, the jersey made it to Saque Largo, one of Colombia's most watched TV sports shows.

Most importantly, the idea saved Gatorade US$ 3MM, which is the cost of a jersey sponsorship in Colombia.

This work proves it's possible to find unexpected media placement when we take into consideration the essence of a brand. By sponsoring Independiente's sweat we activated Gatorade's raison d'etre and that allowed us to explore a part of a football jersey that would instantly become a property of Gatorade. At the same time, we avoided the cluttered exterior of the jersey, already occupied by bigger (and richer) sponsors; we managed to bring to life a brand's DNA.

A stunt for a match, which started with just 50 printed jerseys, has now become a brand platform for Gatorade in LATAM.