The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Marketing decision · 2024
Gatorade used Google Maps to turn Mumbai's idle streets into football pitches.
Facing a 17% slide in its key market, Gatorade read Google Maps traffic to find quiet roads, then dropped turf, hydration and geo-targeted invites on them.
Gatorade · Leo Burnett Mumbai
the move
Gatorade was losing ground in Mumbai, its most important market, down 17%, and it identified a lack of space for sports participation as the primary barrier to play.
Consumer research found 79% of people wanted to play but could not find a place. That is a location problem, not a desire problem, so the brand attacked the location.
Using Google Maps data, Gatorade pinpointed roads and streets that sit quiet at predictable times, then installed modular turf there, added hydration stations, and sent geo-targeted messages to invite people to play at those hours.
The barriers were removed on the city's own terms, using space that already existed but was unused, so the brand became part of a solution to a real urban problem.
why it works
- A lack of play space was the real bottleneck, and idle streets are free playgrounds most brands never notice.
- Using data to find quiet hours meant the turf did not disrupt traffic, so cities and communities allowed it.
- Geo-targeting brought the right people to the right road at the right moment.
- Hydration stations put the drink at the centre of the activity, making the brand the host not the advertiser.
what transfers
The biggest barrier can be a resource you never measured. Use data on when and where an asset sits idle, then re-purpose the space at the hour it is free, and the cost of becoming essential shrinks.
what came after
Sales rose 124% in Mumbai and 59% nationally, with more than a million dollars in earned media, a turnaround in the brand's key market. It won the Creative Data Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2025 and earned a Cannes Lions shortlist.
references
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