Seinfeld was an iconic series of the 90s. It is considered by many (including myself) to be the best sitcom of all time and has left us with great insights such as when Elaine Benes was very excited about a new pizza with cheese inside the crust and, to her partner's rejection, said: ‘It’ll be years before they find another place to hide cheese on a pizza’.
Replace the cheese on the pizza with the sponsor on the jersey and we have the presentation of the idea of the week.
SweatSide of sponsorship (Gatorade + Deportivo Independiente MedellÃn).
We had already seen sponsorships on the front and back of the jersey, on sleeves, shorts, numbers and even on socks, when Gatorade announced that they had found a new space: the inside of the jerseys.
It's not whimsical. Footballers drink Gatorade when they sweat the most, and the other thing they do when they sweat the most is wipe their faces with their jerseys. And with that gesture they reveal the hidden logo of Pepsico's isotonic drink.
It's a good discovery and is very well connected with the product. But it is not a pioneering format as the press releases say.
Ten years ago, Intel had sponsored the inside of the FC Barcelona jersey to communicate its historic slogan ‘Intel inside’.
And, even further back in time, Burger King had sponsored Getafe CF's celebrations, including the King's face on the inside of the blue jersey.
Gatorade and Burger King's campaigns are more notorious because they communicate emotional themes (effort and fun) and connect perfectly with moments of the match, while Intel's ends up being too rational for football. Beyond the fact that it is a different product, they have already been able to communicate emotionally, as with the Beauty Inside web series.
If you know where to get some of these jerseys, let me know privately.
And, if you haven't already, watch Seinfeld.