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BodyArmor is once again the Official Sports Drink of the NCAA, and this relationship will conclude at the 2026 March Madness tournament with a new edition of the “Choose Better” campaign. Sister brand Powerade has been an NCAA sponsor since 2010, except when BodyArmor retained the rights in 2019, and BodyArmor will maintain its sponsorship going forward.
“We made this decision very intentionally,” Tom Gargiulo, CMO of BodyArmor Sports Nutrition, said of the sponsorship switch. “Having a presence within the NCAA reinforces our commitment to better hydration and helps fuel the next generation of athletes that is so important to the brand. It’s a fantastic parallel between what our brand represents and every athlete who grows, competes and performs at the highest level.”
As part of this effort, a 30-second commercial will air on national television on Selection Sunday, March 15, just days ahead of the tournament. The ad will debut in 2025 and features a new take on creative that contrasts pointless exercise routines with exceptional athletic ability.
The creative now features LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson and New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, a former national player of the year who helped Villanova win the 2018 tournament. Last year, Powerade expanded its “It Takes More” campaign around the March Madness tournament, an effort that included new TV commercials, social content from NIL partners, and a new track from LSU’s Johnson, who is also a rapper.
“BodyArmor has always worked with up-and-coming athletes. We pride ourselves on finding athletes before they reach their peak,” Gargiulo explained. “But coming into today, I think we’ve really fine-tuned our roster to make sure we have a lot of players who are still well ahead of their careers and on the road map that represents the brand.”
BodyArmor will be the only hydration beverage available at the tournament, spanning towels, sports water bottles, and coolers on NCAA benches and hydration stations. You’ll see branding expanded across broadcasts, in-stadium signage, digital platforms and out-of-home advertising. BodyArmor is also teaming with more than 20 NIL athletes for digital and social content.
Preparing for the future of functionality
Coca-Cola-owned BodyArmor launched its “Choose Better” campaign last year as part of the largest media spend in the brand’s history. The campaign launch comes with a new visual identity that includes a sharper wordmark, clean typography, bolder packaging and BodyArmor’s first brand icon. BodyArmor’s key performance metrics have improved since the brand’s evolution began last year, Gargiulo said.
“As a business, we are growing occupancy and improving velocity and unit movement at the store level. We are seeing excitement from our retail partners and our bottling partners. It has been tremendous and we will continue that momentum into 2026,” the executive said.
As BodyArmor continues its “Choose Better” campaign, it will unveil an innovation that Gargiulo believes will be “incredibly disruptive” in the sports drinks space.
“We’re not going to release a better widget,” he said. “We are launching a completely different widget for the ecozone.”
BodyArmor’s March Madness push and innovation plans come as parent company Coca-Cola plans to fold its BodyArmor sports nutrition device into its new Advanced Hydration device, which also includes Vitaminwater and Smartwater, as first reported by Beverage Digest.
“We will have an incredible portfolio of hydration brands that not only represent unique benefits, but also have the ability to expand into very different spaces,” Gargiulo said of the move. “Functionality is the future. What better brand to continue to be at the forefront of functionality than these four?”
