Ultimate Product Placement
We always see athletes making a great play and then going to back to the sidelines to fill up on some Gatorade. Rarely do we see it the other way around. Well, it happened Sunday night. Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith was shown on the sidelines drinking Gatorade (from a bottle, not a cup) and then moments later, Smith rumbled in for the team's only touchdown in the first half. Not a bad in-game commercial. It's times like these when people at Gatorade realize that that $45 million a year that they pay the NFL for sideline rights, is clearly a bargain.
http://www.firstinthirst.typepad.com/

Opinion
How do you interpret this cartoon?

Bottom line for Leinart's loot

New Gatorade Commercial Online
First, you all wanted to see the "Winning Formula" advertisement, now I'm getting a lot of requests for Gatorade's new commercial. In it, as athletes are shown competing, copy on the screen reads "It is in here." Well, this spot, as well as a host of other old ones are on the new Gatorade site. (Here's an easy link so that you don't have to work too hard: http://www.gatorade.com/oldhome.php?bmk=15.0.main). I really like this new spot because it grabs your attention and at the same point gets through Gatorade's message points. Other spots you can watch include "Street," which I don't think is anything special. "Shattered," the first spot for the Endurance Formula, I would rate one of Gatorade's top 5 commercials ever, along with Winning Formula (which unfortunately is not linked up since the brand does not own the rights to the actual highlights). Why are "Shattered" and "Winning Formula" so great? Because there's no way that they don't make the office cooler after someone sees them. Interestingly, not one of the commercials with a Gatorade-endorsed athlete is on the site. I guess for some reason they might not have the rebroadcasting rights to those past a certain time as well.
http://firstinthirst.typepad.com/

Happy New Year
I want to say a big Thank You! to all of you who have been reading in 2005, and especially to those of you who have written to me personally with your comments and insights. It's been wonderful hearing from so many people from all over. I'll do my best to keep "giving it away" and share whatever I can in 2006. My goal is to kick it up another notch (or two) this year.

(Note: The iCard above says Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu (Happy New year). Kotoshimo Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu (impossible to translate well: "Kotoshimo" means "also this year" and "Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu" means something like the feeling of "hope we have a good relationship from now too" or "let's keep in touch" or "let's continue helping each other..." Yoroshiku is one of those things that is understood in Japanese but impossible to explain — you just feel it. So, Yoroshiku in 2006, everyone!)