Coca-Cola’s Powerade named NBA superstar Ja Morant as the face of its largest campaign to date. The work represents part of the brand’s plan to supersede its competitors in the sports drink category.
Click here to read the story at thedrum.com.
Discussion Questions:
- What is a product endorsement?
- Why do brands like Powerade want athletes and celebrities to endorse their products and services?
- What characteristics do you think they look for in an athlete or celebrity to partner with?
- Why do you think Powerade chose Ja Morant as the face of its biggest-ever marketing campaign?
- How much is Powerade investing in this campaign, based on what you learned from this news story?
- What is advertising?
- What are the different forms of advertising?
- Why do you think Powerade chose TV for this campaign?
- What is differentiation?
- How is Powerade differentiating its product from Gatorade as part of this campaign?
- Ja Morant recently announced that he was stepping away from the team for personal reasons, and has been the subject of some negative publicity recently. How might that illustrate the potential risk of any endorsement campaign?
- What is crisis management?
- How do you think Powerade should proceed given the latest developments with Ja Morant’s off-court behavior? Be prepared to discuss your suggestions in class.