An unabashed sports fan, Tom Cronin definitely picked the right gig. A founding member of Element 79 Partners, he was recently promoted to VP and lead executive producer for the sports-driven Gatorade brand at the Chicago ad agency.
To say that Cronin provides continuity for Gatorade is an understatement. He has spent the past dozen years working closely with the brand, initially at Bayer Bess Vanderwarker, a Chicago-based ad shop that was acquired by Foote, Cone & Belding. He produced assorted notable Gatorade spots at Bayer Bess Vanderwarker and then at FCB Chicago where he moved up to executive producer working on other accounts as well such as Snapple, Diet Snapple and Aquafina.
Cronin then moved over to an executive producership at Element 79, continuing to contribute to spotmaking for Gatorade and then Propel. The latter included last year’s acclaimed campaign, the centerpiece of which consisted of three spots directed by Baker Smith of Santa Monica-headquartered harvest: “Uphill,” “Power Walk” and “Stress Monster.”
Cronin’s stellar Gatorade fare included “Big Head” directed by Dante Ariola of bicoastal/international MJZ in which little kids had the oversized heads of such star athletes as New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and soccer star Mia Hamm.
While Gatorade has been a flagship account in his career, there was professional life before that client for Cronin. Prior to Bayer Bess Vanderwarker, he was a producer at BBDO Chicago.
SHOOT asked Cronin to reflect on how the Gatorade business has evolved, his new responsibilities at Element 79 and the ever changing media landscape.
SHOOT: Your involvement in and now production stewardship of the Gatorade account gives you a unique perspective on where the brand has been and how it has progressed over the years. Take us through the evolution of this brand.
Cronin: The account has grown tenfold since we started on it years ago. The sports beverage category was invented by Gatorade and they own 85 percent of it. That makes it a multi-billion dollar brand. Production has changed to reflect that. The production reflects a leadership role in the marketplace and I want to continue that in my new role here.
I’m not just talking about leadership conceptually and technically but being on the cutting edge across all categories. As a leader brand, it has to look like a leader in all our commercials, to reflect that spirit of leadership. That applies to the celebrity athletes we use, like a Derek Jeter, a Peyton Manning, a Kevin Garnett.
SHOOT: That leadership profile extends to new media as well?
Cronin: Yes, though I’m not at liberty to discuss specifics at this time. We have had a lot of discussion about new areas. The target audience for Gatorade is young males, committed athletes and sports lovers. New media represents a prime way to reach that audience, and we have very serious plans in that regard. It will be a big part of my purview. We have to make sure we’re doing it in a smart way, though. It can’t be a reactionary thing, to do something because we have to be there.
SHOOT: Making the transition easier, though, is the entertainment dynamic which is a longstanding part of the Gatorade brand.
Cronin: Yes. Part of what we do has to do with the way the product works, its credibility for replenishing necessary body fluids for the serious athlete. But then we have work that doesn’t talk about the product but what it has come to stand for, a great example being the Derek Jeter/Harvey Keitel commercial [“Thief,” a SHOOT Top Spot–5/25–directed by Stacy Wall of Epoch Films].
Keitel represents the inner competitive spirit of Jeter–I love that spot and wish that I had worked on it. You can identify with that inner voice if you’re a baseball fan or not. It’s fun, it’s the spirit of the brand. It’s the kind of work that can translate into other media with no problem. We want to continue with that kind of work. We’re not reinventing ourselves. We just keep pushing to be true to the brand and what our audience enjoys and appreciates.
SHOOT: Define your new role in terms of responsibilities.
Cronin: To help to continue to produce great work. To keep me as the go-between between all the agency producers, all the jobs going on and the client.
SHOOT: Does that include the selection of directors?
Cronin: As a producer at FCB and here, I had total autonomy in terms of finding the right director. I don’t have any intention of now sticking my nose into that relationship with other producers here.
But I would like to expose all of us, myself included, to people who might be a little more specific to Gatorade, to expand our resources to tap into because scheduling can be so difficult for the right directors.
SHOOT: What do you mean by directors who might be “more specific” to Gatorade?
Cronin: Directors who understand how to shoot sports so that it looks authentic. But I’m not just talking about the right lighting and angles. An understanding of great sports photography has to encompass an understanding of the spirit of the sport. Capturing the heart, spirit and competitiveness of the sport and the athlete–all admittedly in a staged fashion but not looking staged–is essential.
Everybody out there in the audience knows what it’s supposed to look like. There’s no fooling our audience. I remember when we did the spot about three famous plays [Jeter’s flip to the catcher to get a game-saving out at home plate in the postseason, Michael Jordan’s last second winning basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs and Dwight Clark’s catch of a Joe Montana pass to put the San Francisco 49ers in their first Super Bowl] that could have turned out differently. You can’t fake that. Our viewers are experts. So we’re always looking for directors and artists who can capture the realistic look and feel of competitiveness, of Gatorade’s “Is It In You?”
I think there are a number of European directors we should be looking at–not at the exclusion of American directors who we use primarily–to open up additional options for us. You look at some of the great soccer work for adidas that captures the essence of the athlete. There’s a lesser known group of directors in Europe who are in tune with that and we need to bring them into the mix for consideration. It all comes down to finding the right director for the concept. I want to open up all those options for our producers so that they have the most to choose from in ultimately deciding which director to go with.
SHOOT: Given the breakthrough work you did for Propel, was it tough for you to leave that account altogether to focus on Gatorade?
Cronin: Yes, it was a tough decision. That was cutting edge work in its own right that enabled me to play in areas that Gatorade doesn’t get to. But we have that work in good hands here. [Rob Jaeger was recently promoted to Element 79’s lead executive producer on the Propel account.]
