BodyArmor this month is rolling out a refreshed visual identity and its largest national campaign yet, per details shared with Marketing Dive. Both efforts attempt to separate the Coca-Cola-owned sports drink from a category that has continued to get more crowded since the brand’s founding in 2011.
The new visual identity includes a sharper wordmark, cleaner typography, bolder packaging and BodyArmor’s first brand icon. These elements intend to modernize the product’s look while reinforcing a value proposition around real ingredients and better-for-you hydration. During the design process, BodyArmor tried to balance a need to catch the eye of consumers through displays and on shelves without tarnishing existing brand equity.
“Our goal was evolution, not revolution. BodyArmor has built strong brand equity and we wanted to refine our look while maintaining the bold, performance-driven identity that consumers recognize and trust,” said Tom Gargiulo, CMO of BodyArmor Sports Nutrition, the umbrella that the BodyArmor and Powerade brands sit under, in emailed comments. The executive is confident the design will recruit new households to the brand.
The Coca-Cola Company saw unit case volume of sports drinks decline 2% in Q4 2024 and 1% for the full year, with growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa offset by drops in North America and Asia Pacific. BodyArmor was cited among the brands that the beverage giant has “great belief in going forward” by Chief Financial Officer John Murphy at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference in February.
Disrupting mindless routines
BodyArmor’s fresh design comes to life in “Choose Better,” a campaign targeted at everyday consumers that encourages them to question their fitness routines. Developed as part of a creative partnership between the brand and agency Cartwright, the effort breaks away from the sports drink industry’s focus on elite performance as the end goal of exercise.
“We shine a spotlight on athletes seeing little improvement because they are going through a mindless routine,” Gargiulo said. “It’s this disruption, encouraging people to make better lifestyle decisions, including their hydration choice, that we feel will garner mass consumer attention.”
A 60-second hero spot tracks across floors in a dystopian underground bunker where scores of people are working out — on treadmills, with barbells and on exercise bikes — without making progress. After rising to the surface, the mood shifts to the sunny outdoors, showing athletes, including brand partners Connor McDavid, Sabrina Ionescu, Joe Burrow and CeeDee Lamb, hard at work and hydrated by BodyArmor.
As part of BodyArmor’s largest media spend in brand history, “Choose Better” will span national television, digital creative, streaming, out-of-home and social media. After debuting this weekend during the NHL Playoffs, the ad will run throughout the playoffs and during the Stanley Cup Final, with the brand having a presence in-arena and on broadcast. Tie-ups with creator-led platforms like Dude Perfect round out the plan.
“It’s all about meeting the consumer where they are, which in 2025, is everywhere. Traditional media plays a critical role in driving mass awareness, but we’ve made the conscious decision to move into digital and creator-led storytelling,” Gargiulo said. “Thanks to our partnerships with Barstool Sports and Dude Perfect, we’re showing up — authentically in their content, not just background logos and ad reads — where younger, engaged audiences are spending time.”
