The green and orange Gatorade squirt bottle is ubiquitous in sports. Think about how many times you’ve seen goalies in soccer or hockey reach for the bottle. It’s one of the most recognizable products in sports.
Still, that doesn’t mean it can’t evolve. And that’s just what Gatorade is doing by giving customers a chance to get more than just the classic green and orange version through harnessing the power of AI to deliver one-of-a-kind drinkware, all via a partnership with Adobe.
Here’s how it works: Using the Adobe Firefly AI platform, customers can choose from either preset AI-generated designs with customizable options like emojis or color schemes, or fully create their own designs with their own prompts.
Because the program is through Gatorade iD, users who have a profile on the platform can bank their designs for later, just in case they want to tweak it before it goes to print.
“Gatorade continues to be at the forefront of athletic equipment personalization, and the launch of AI-generated bottle design puts next-level creative self-expression directly in athletes’ hands,” said Xavi Cortadellas, Gatorade’s senior director of marketing for athletic equipment, in a statement. “Now athletes everywhere can have fun with our AI tool in a way that’s approachable and uniquely on-brand.”
Gatorade debuted the program with a branded pop-up in New York City.
The conversation about how AI fits into branded merchandise and promotional products has been ongoing. One concern is that AI ultimately “feeds off” existing artwork, therefore putting the designer at risk of trademark or copyright infringement.
Adobe says that its Firefly platform is explicitly “designed for safe commercial use,” meaning that the AI only uses openly licensed public domain content as its metaphorical grist.
If the promotional products industry continues down the AI road, there’s potential for more campaigns to look like this initiative from Gatorade, especially in an age where print-on-demand and e-commerce platforms are so common.
“Gatorade has been bringing personalization to new levels of expression and innovation in our products and experiences,” said Leon Imas, vice president of design at PepsiCo, Gatorade’s parent company. “We crafted a special experience for our athletes to feel like a Gatorade pro, creating styles, themes and structure references that Firefly pulls from to make all generated bottle designs uniquely Gatorade, and special to you. The end result is bottles generated by AI, powered by design and imagined by you.”
That individuality aspect, combined with the premium branding of a company like Gatorade, makes for a product that end-users could want to hold onto for a long time. There could be a sense of pride in showing off something that they “created.” Couple that with using a product primed for everyday use at home, work or the gym, and you achieve a lasting and impactful promotion.
