Authenticity. Seriously.

In 2005, we made a Gatorade spot called Winning Formula. It was created to demonstrate the precision behind the formulation of Gatorade and the science involved. To prove how the smallest of differences can profoundly affect an outcome, we changed three iconic moments in sports history: we made Michael Jordan’s shot over Craig Ehlo roll out of the hoop, we caused Joe Montana’s pass to fly just over Dwight Clark’s outstretched hands, and we made Derek Jeter’s flip to Posada a fraction too late to nail Jason Giambi at the plate.



To recreate these events, we did ridiculously comprehensive research. We talked to cameramen who shot the original video to get the right film stocks, camera lenses, and angles to make sure it looked absolutely real.

We plotted the angles to make sure the balls matched the flight of the balls that Jordan, Montana, and Jeter threw. We had the actors who played the ref and ump watch the original footage over and over so they could call Montana’s pass incomplete and call Jason Giambi safe at home with the exact same motion that the original ref and ump called the touchdown good and Giambi out.

The jerseys are exact replicas, down to the shoes. The playing surfaces were recreated to the original specifications, down to the chalk marks, floor markings, and height of the grass. Even the haircuts were perfect matches. And even if you couldn’t tell that by looking at the film, we’d have done it that way.

Gatorade was so successful for so many years because they respected authenticity above just about everything. Because without it you’re a cheater and a pretender and nobody should ever trust you as a sports authority ever again. Even if you do it just one eentsy weentsy little time.

Seriously.

I truly believe that if we had missed on anything, we would have been called out, and the commercial wouldn’t have been so believable—or received as much positive buzz. The irony is, to make this spot feel completely real, we had to do a tremendous amount of faking. But that’s movie magic. You’re watching it all the time without knowing it. And it’s a big part of making sports ads authentic.