Powerade, the sports drink, which helps athletes avoid dehydration while training and competing, is launching a new campaign dubbed ‘Power Through,’ which comes as extension of the ‘Game Science’ marketing effort, also launched ahead of March Madness. The new round of the campaign includes a TV commercial developed by Wieden+Kennedy Portland (the spot aired yesterday, on March 4), as well as print and digital elements to arrive in the coming months. According to Ad Age, the new advertising push from Powerade, which is official sports drink of the NCAA, is highlighting the “underdogs and hard work,” and targets young athletes.

“While the campaign was birthed out of brand and consumer insights, Powerade is also an underdog. We’ve never stopped believing and we’ve been hurdling through challenges. The strongest representative for this is to showcase the underdog,” commented Yolanda White, group director of marketing.

The previous advertising projects, which highlighted the processes occurring within athletes on the pitch and involved ethnographic studies and spending much time on courts, showed that for the brand demographic (here it’s young people) is the key thing. And these talented and ambitious individuals want to achieve the best results they can imagine. Scott Hargrove, group director of integrated marketing creative, who is in charge of creative excellence at Powerade, commented that the campaign will also “dimensionalize the notion of the underdog,” and “lean more into the emotional space of the underdog” as it will evolve over the coming months.

In some way, Powerade owned by Coca-Cola and Gatorade, which belongs to PepsiCo, are continuing the battle of two beverage giants. According to Beverage Digest, Powerade’s marketshare rose to a 28.5% share in its niche on the market within first nine months of 2011, while Gatorade fell to a 70% share. With the new campaign the brand is not just encouraging athletes to be bold and face challenges, no matter how big great they are and how small you are, but also tells a story about itself in a battle with Gatorade. “Identifying with David in the Goliath story can be pretty inspiring to anybody,” said Mark Fitzloff, executive creative director at Wieden+Kennedy.