When a synergistic brand partnership comes along that effectively taps into the lifestyle of its consumers it should be held up like an Olympic torch and applauded! So Powerade’s brand partnership with the Great Event Series, which includes the Great North Run, is logical as it attempts to differentiate itself from other energy drinks.However Powerade giving away 50,000 iPods to incentivise consumers to start running and listen to music at the same time to ease the pain is the icing on the cake.

Furthermore the winners of the iPods can download the bespoke training guide Powerade Pulse to ensure that they maintain motivation.  ‘Powerade Pulse’ is a bespoke ‘Powerade’ software programme that scans a customer’s digital music tracks and creates a play list at a designated Beats Per Minute (BPM) to match that person’s running ability. This appears to be similar to Nike’s iPod accessory Nike+iPod but it takes it onto the next level and creates a bespoke playlist rather than use an existing one.

Winning iPods will of course attract more consumer attention than Powerade’s partnership with the Great Event Series and probably cost them less.  However if that provides the spark for a consumer to then take up running and enter a half marathon and inspires them to get fit then that’s a great community benefit Powerade are providing. They should be applauded for this and gain some great positive association. Of course they’re not doing this for the community but to sell more Powerade but by inspiring people to run then the end result is the same.

A very cool brand partnership would be even better if they were also giving away places in the event series for races like the Great North Run but I am sure that will be coming, even if it would sell fewer bottles than winning iPods!