Gatorade

Fueling Sports Excellence Through Education

Gatorade’s Player of the Year Award celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school student-athletes for excellence in sport, academics, and character. Red Door helped refresh the digital experience to better reflect the program’s legacy, prestige, and future.

Industry

Sports & Active Lifestyle

Channels

Brand Strategy & Creative

SEO & AEO

Explore the partnership

The Opportunity

Gatorade aimed to refresh its Player of the Year website to better reflect the history and prestige of the award while reinforcing the brand’s commitment to equity and the future of sports. The experience needed to reduce confusion, better support key site actions, and create a stronger connection with competitive teen athletes.

The Insight

The website’s core role was not just informational. It had to celebrate winners, inspire future nominees, and support practical initiatives such as athlete nominations and grant submissions. We saw an opportunity to unify those functions within a cleaner, more modern experience that honored the award’s legacy while aligning with Gatorade’s updated brand standards.

Creative Brief

Put us in, Coach

We began by creating a brief that aligned our team and the client on expectations, priorities, and goals before moving into design. This early strategic work laid a clear foundation, helping ensure that every decision supported a more cohesive website experience and a stronger expression of the Player of the Year program.

A vibrant website design with three columns showcasing an athletic theme. The central section features an athlete lifting weights with the text 'Athletes Giving Back to Athletes.' The left column prompts nominations for 'Gatorade Player of the Year,' while the right column highlights 'Boys Cross Country - Alabama.' The overall tone is energetic and motivational, with an orange and black color scheme.

Website layout showcasing "Gatorade National Players of the Year" with an image of a female athlete holding a trophy. Includes a list of national winners below. Orange and black theme conveys energy and achievement.

Two smartphones display a volleyball-themed sports website. The left screen shows "2023-2024 Player of the Year" with a woman in a stadium. The right screen features the same woman sitting in the stands with a pensive expression. The images convey anticipation and focus.

Content Audit

Uncovering Gaps in the User Journey

We conducted a full content audit of the existing website to uncover gaps, inconsistencies, and opportunities for improvement. After reviewing the current experience and analyzing available data, we presented our findings to the Gatorade team. Those insights directly informed the website creative brief and helped shape a clearer, more intuitive user journey.

Split screen image: Left shows a smartphone page for Ethan Edgeworth, a high school runner from Alabama. Right features a woman in sunglasses, labeled Addison Ritzenhein, Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year.

Technical SEO

Strengthening Search Visibility

Alongside the creative work, our technical SEO team audited the site against current best practices to help ensure the refreshed experience would be discoverable and visually compelling. After gathering and analyzing the findings, we shared recommendations with the client and used that work to support a stronger foundation for the redesigned site and its long-term visibility.