Gatorade Evoluciona & New Line G series
Illustration for 2 advertising campaigns for Gatorade
A champion is someone who gets up when he can't.
— Jack Dempsey

This year I had the joy to collaborate with a great team of creative people. TBWA\Chiat\Day the agency managing the Gatorade account for PepsiCo hired me to create the illustrations for 2 worldwide campaigns for the #1 sports drink in the world. Working with these guys was a pure pleasure. We tried to push it to the limits and I would probably cover a whole mile of web space to present all the work we have done.
There were two different campaigns running parallely. The first would cover the Latin American and hispanic market and the second would be a global campaign. 

Let's have a quick look at the look 'n' feel of the two campaigns: First the Gatorade Evoluciona...
...and then the Gatorade Global G series:​​​​​​​
Gatorade Evoluciona
For the Gatorade Evoluciona we wanted to create an atmosphere that incorporates solid ethic elements coming from primitive cultures. We wanted to celebrate the pure culture of the populations living in the Latin America region. At the same time we wanted to modernize them and project them to the future. A series of patterns inspired from the African and South American heritage have been combined with fractals and Op Art symbols. Athletes were chosen depending on which country the media was placed. The goal was to visually communicate the relationship between the ingredients in the product, and the athletes who drink them.
The Illustrations:

Usain Bolt:
Usain Bolt is the fastest man on Earth. The Jamaican sprinter is a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metreUsain played a main role in the whole campaign.
We created two illustrations with him for the "Evoluciona" campaign. The first was more universal and the second more Jamaican. I am not sure which one I prefer...


El Canelo:
Saúl Álvarez is the undefeated Mexican boxer and the current WBC Light Middleweight champion. I particularly liked his noble face and his smile. I dedicated all my cinnamon (canelo in spanish) related colors adding some extra green and red lights for underlying the Mexican origin and pride.
Israel Castro:
Israel has been the captain of Pumas Unam, the Champions of the Mexican Primera Division. He also plays for the Mexico national football team. I created probably more than 10 different version and compositions of him and the ball. We have finally chosen this one that gives a more golden aura to the soccer player.
Paulo Henrique Ganso:
Paulo Henrique Ganso (the Goose) is the new #10 of the Brazilian national football team. That's probably the greatest achievement for a footballer. He is playing for Santos and he really rocks. The mosaic illustration for Ganso is probably my favorite of the series. I liked the pose and I enjoyed playing with the ball energy.
César Cielo:
Swimming may not be as popular as soccer in Brazil but probably this is why César Cielo's message is precious. César is the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history, having obtained two Olympic medals, four World Championships gold medals and breaking a world record within a one-year span. He is also the current world record holder in the 100 meter and 50 meter freestyle. 
I played with the antithesis of warm and cold colors for this illustration underlying the power and the joy of the victory.
Michael Jordan:
We are talking about the legend. The guy is Gatorade's favorite athlete of the last 20 years starring in legendary campaigns like "Be like Mike" or the "Gatorade color sweat".
I experimented with many different versions for this one, trying to create something with less colors comparing to the rest of the series but with more historic references.
Clarivet Yllescas:
Clarivet is an amazing volleyballer from Peru. A real champion from Latin America. I wanted to create a butterfly shape for her picturing her like flying.
Falcao:
Radamel Falcao: Another real legend from Latin America. I wanted to picture the Colombian soccer star in a celebrating shot full of energy and passion.
Greivis Vásquez:
A great Venezuelan basketballer. Emphasis is given to the ball.
Oswaldo Vizcarrondo:
One of the best Latin American soccer players, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo from Venezuela. Strong warm hues and flying fractals around the body.
Christian Benitez:
Christian Benitez aka El Chucho, the great Ecuadorian footballer illustrated in strong warm hues full of energy. Another illustration relating the athlete with a flying animal.
Claudio Pizarro:
One of the best strikers in the European stadiums, the Peruvian Claudeo Pizarro, is pictured in his Werder Bremen apparel.
The Bottles:
The bottles have to be treated almost like athletes for the campaign. This is the orange one.
Some of the Applications:
Gatorade Global G Series
This is the Gatorade G Series global campaign using Usain Bolt, Aldo de Nigris and El Canelo. Each athlete represents the three stages of G: Prime, Perform, and Recover.
For this campaign we have used a visual language I am studying since the early 90s. It's based on the principle of invariance and the "theory of perspective space" by my teacher Nino Di Salvatore and the Gestalt school of psychology. The theory makes use of polygons, especially trapezes, that the human brain prefers to recognize as rectangles in perspective.
The colors follow the theory of "Continuum Cromaticum" by my teacher Augusto Garau. The theory helps the designer to use primary, secondary and tertiary colors in positions that form unity and continuity. 

The Illustrations: 

The products:
We have created this illustration to be used as a background for the Gatorade products.
PRIME: Usein Bolt
Gatorade Prime 01 provides pre-game fuel for athletes looking for the right fuel before practice or competition, but who don’t want to feel too full. For this product we have chosen Usain Bolt, the athlete with the perfect start.
PERFORM: Aldo de Nigris
Gatorade has sharpened the focus on fueling athletic performance during workouts and competitions and has designed the G Series based on scientific grounding and athlete needs.
We have chosen Aldo de Nigris, the great Mexican soccer player of Monterrey for our testimonial.
RECOVER: El Canelo
Athletes know it’s critical to promote muscle recovery to get ready for their next workout or competition, and Gatorade Recover 03 is the first protein recovery beverage with the consistency and great taste people expect from Gatorade. Who else could reflect this than El Canelo. We putted him in a cocoon of ...healing energy.
Some of the Applications:
To all TBWA\Chiat\Day and PepsiCo people involved in this project.
Jayanta Jenkins, Dogan Dattilo, Debra Rosen, Ana Molinar, Hillary Co and all others that I haven't had the pleasure to meet in person. Thank you guys.
To all of you visiting and leaving a feedback.
Thanks!

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