The spot: Kevin Garnett, Keri Walsh and Misty May, Usain Bolt, Derek Jeter, some gymnast, and some NASCAR driver are in a full-on Monty Python and the Holy Grail parody, complete with music, coconuts, and faux-Gilliam animation. They are knights questing for the Holy G, with Kevin Garnett as their king. On their quest, the encounter a series of challenges. Kareem Abdul-Jabar as a goat-wizard. Guards at a castle deny them access and disparage their heritage in humorously incongruous fashion. Jabbawockeez-monks engage them in a dance-off. They battle a fire-beathing poodle named Game 7. There is swearing.Okay, this is funny. I'm enough of a nerd to get the references to Monty Python, but not so much of a nerd that I think this is "blasphemous" (got how I hate those nerds). I laughed at Kevin Garnett and his gold Kanye glasses. I laughed at Usain Bolt (
who I totally scooped G on, by the way) and his pet, Ego. I laughed quite a bit at the dance-off.
But how to reconcile this with
the previous series of ads that introduced Gatorade's new brand identity, G? Excuse me if I'm reaching, but does the use of Lil Wayne, the Jabbawockeez, and the letter G (as in, WHAT UP G) as it's new brand indicate to anybody that they might be trying to hit a more urban market with their product? Is that fair to say?
So how do you go from targetting an urban marketing to targetting British comedy nerds? In a completely insane 9-minute internet ad, no less? (Heavily edited versions of this ad can be seen on TV). I mean, could you be targeting two more disparate audiences than these in what appears to be the same ad campaign? Both campaigns feature many of the same athletes (Garnett, Jeter, May and Walsh, Bolt, Jabbawockeez), so it seems like there is supposed to be some sort of connection.
I like the ad, I really do. But nonetheless, we must all acknowledge: G now stands for "Gone completely insane."
