Sha’Carri Richardson and Katie Grimes’ Superhuman Dedication in Powerade Spot
Global leader in sports beverages and official sports drink of the Olympic Games Pairs 2024 Powerade, has enlisted directing duo King She to direct two dynamic 30-second spots for their national campaign ‘It Takes More’ featuring star athletes Sha’Carri Richardson and Katie Grimes.
Powerade’s ‘It Takes More’ initiative shines a spotlight on the relentless dedication, sacrifice and preparation the athletes invest to reach the pinnacle of their sports. The campaign underscores the unseen hours of training that power world-class performances and aims to inspire the next generation to chase their dreams with unwavering determination.
Tom Gargiulo, Bodyarmor Sports Nutrition’s CMO said: “Powerade’s an iconic brand with a deep history at the Olympic Games, so we felt it was a perfect fit to partner with two of the top American athletes in their respective sports heading into Paris 2024. Both Sha’Carri and Katie embody who we are as a brand, so we’re excited to see this new campaign come to life and showcase to athletes and consumers everywhere that Powerade offers more than the competition.”
Directing and creative collective King She, known for their inventive, bold and arresting style, were tasked with depicting Sha’Carri and Katie’s almost opposing, but equally dynamic, training processes. With both of the athletes bursting with personality while dominating their respective fields – one on the track, and the other underwater – King She utilised sound, colour and cinematography to create a sensory experience true to each of their flair.
In the wake of this year’s Olympics, LBB’s Zoe Antonov speaks to King She about this unique experience and how they approached it creatively.
LBB> This is your first time directing a sports advert, was there a certain level of nervousness, or did you immediately know what to do?
King She> Because it was our first sports ad and also for the Olympics, Powerade and these iconic athletes all in one go, our first reaction was actually ‘Are you sure they asked for us?’.
But to answer your question, yes there were butterflies. Not knowing how to do something and then figuring it out, however, is one of the best parts of directing short form.
As for the path to knowing – as directors, we find our personal connection to a story and then we interrogate it and craft that perspective towards a campaign’s needs. For Powerade we spent a lot of time discussing the mindset of an athlete. The space that needs to be mentally created, so that excellence can be achieved. It was one we felt we could personally channel, especially with Robert being a former semi-pro snowboarder.
LBB> What was the brief for this campaign and how did you approach it initially?
King She> The project came in initially as a time story – our athletes train to beat their own clocks. But for various reasons, we couldn’t use time as a narrative device. So halfway through prep, we had to switch gears and redraft the tale with the agency.
We knew we wanted to create a uniquely sensory experience with the Powerade campaign. These athletes train at a consistency and frequency much higher than that of a normal athlete. So the question we asked ourselves: how do we convey what our elite athletes experience in that liminal space between normal and supernormal through sound and visuals? That’s how we cracked our approach.
LBB> Tell me about your creative relationship with Powerade on the project and how involved they were in the making of the films.
King She> Both Powerade and Ogilvy were incredibly supportive of our perspectives. We felt a lot of trust from them in general. And that was especially fortunate because we were working under incredibly tight constraints.
Both films were one-day shoots in two different parts of the country with not a lot of time to film Sha’Carri and Katie, who were both extremely busy training for the Olympics. Everyone was really hands on trying to make it happen and problem solve along the way. It really was one team, one dream.
LBB> The line 'It Takes More' packs a punch from a copywriting perspective. How did you make sure it carried that strength through the films as well? And subsequently, tell me about the voiceover on both films, what layer did you want it to add?
One of the opportunities here was to direct real performance from Sha’Carri and Katie. We wanted the personality and flair of each athlete to be on full display, as their actions and words reacted to the narrator. Both had to deliver lines and react to the voiceover as they trained. It was very difficult technical performances to deliver, and they both aced it.
Casting and directing the voiceover was an equally important part of the performance equation.
‘It Takes More’ gave us a very clear line for all the scenes. We used it to find distinct ways to see and hear how Sha’Carri and Katie pushed themselves in training. We studied everything we could find out about them ahead of the shoot, and luckily we got to meet Katie the day before the shoot. Our BTS video even shows how that meeting informed the way we shot her.
LBB> Knowing the two athletes, what were the differences in the creative approach when making the films, in order to let their personalities shine through? What made them the perfect choice for this campaign?
King She> As Olympians who medaled in their respective sports in Paris 2024, they were clearly a perfect and prescient choice of athletes by Powerade. But really they were the perfect choice because they are both such extraordinarily distinct humans. We found them both so compelling and really wanted to lean into their specific stories and traits.
Sha’Carri is larger than life while Katie is a quiet, reserved teenager. Sha'Carri felt electric and shimmering, almost elemental in a way. While Katie was someone who dealt with depth and constant change in her environment. Both their personal spaces were so unique to each of them and we used that to inform our visual and sonic explorations.
LBB> There's a lot to balance in this project – a very famous brand, two equally famous athletes and your own unique style. Was this difficult?
King She> We think leaning into all three created a really cool alchemy.
LBB> What does the cinematography and sonics say about the two films and how did you settle on this kind of look and sound?
King She> We worked closely with our DP Persona to apply a lot of rigour to the language of the film. We even played with the change in context, capturing Katie swimming at both day and night and interweaving that footage to give the audience a visual sensation of depth work.
Sha'Carri was rendered as a piece of electricity and the elemental neon vibe was the target.
One of our great tools in approaching work as filmmakers is sound. We couldn’t imagine finding the sounds we needed in a library of pre-recorded stuff. Our sound designer, Raphael Ajuelos, started during prep to create a pallet of sounds for the films. And then we brought him to set to capture the live recording of location sounds that could compliment his pallet and allow for further exploration.
And last but not least our post partners Jamm and colorist Daniel de Vue at Trafik were part of our pre-vis and look development tests in prep.
LBB> How long did the actual filming take and did you stay there through lots of training? How did you make sure to capture the key moments during those training hours, so the audiences can really feel the athletes' endurance?
King She> Sha’Carri and Katie are total pros when it comes to training. So it was really on us to make sure our camera was alive to what was happening in front of us.
Directing sports is about being prepared and then being able to improvise. We’re used to thinking on our feet with our doc backgrounds. But equally it’s about knowing what you absolutely need for an edit and being able to let go of some things.
LBB> What were the biggest challenges in this project and how did you overcome them? And likewise, what were the most fun parts?
King She> We had a lot of fun experimenting with how to bring something different to filming sports. Also it was really fun playing with underwater equipment for the first time. We felt like grownup filmmakers.
LBB> Any final thoughts?
King She> Huge SO to Sha’Carri and Katie for medaling last week. It was really exciting to watch.
