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celebration, victory and the epitome of physical success provides invaluable enhancement
to the Gatorade brand (See Exhibit 3).
The influence of product placement is spreading throughout the sports industry, which can
be seen through a growing presence in the interactive media industry, particularly in video
games. A study conducted by Electronic Arts Games (EA) on behalf of Gatorade shows that
“in-game advertising increased household dollars spent on Gatorade by 24% and offered a
return on investment of USD 3.11.” (Business Wire, 2010). This study focused on six popular
EA SPORTS video games where the Gatorade name and logo was placed on arena signs,
players’ water bottles, and score updates (Business Wire, 2010).
There are also risks associated with product placement. In the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi,
Russia, Under Armour fitted the US Speed Skating Team with newly designed ‘Mach 39’
skating suits, initially marketing them as a competitive advantage for being “the fastest
skating suits in the world” (Peters, 2014) (See Exhibit 3).
Exhibit 3. Product placement.
Despite the hype associated with these new uniforms, the team performed poorly and left
without a single medal. This was particularly significant when compared to the success of
the US team in the 2010 games (Robinson & Germano, 2014). Under Armour was blamed
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