Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership works because of a coincidence most marketing campaigns would have to invent from scratch: the show’s fifth and final season is set in the fall of 1987, the exact same year Gatorade ran its original “No Ordinary Thirst Quencher” campaign. Rather than build something new, Gatorade simply pulled its own decades-old ad out of the vault and pointed it straight at the Upside Down.
Table of Contents
- How Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership came together
- What “No Ordinary Athlete” actually looks like
- The retro products the partnership brought back
- How the campaign reached beyond a single commercial
- Frequently asked questions about Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership
How Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership came together
Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership was built around a genuine calendar coincidence. According to MediaPost’s coverage of the deal, season 5 of Stranger Things is set in the fall of 1987, the same year Gatorade’s original “No Ordinary Thirst Quencher” campaign first aired — giving the brand a rare, ready-made excuse to revive a specific piece of its own advertising history rather than inventing a themed campaign from nothing.
Gatorade rebranded that original slogan as “No Ordinary Athlete” for the collaboration, according to PepsiCo’s own newsroom coverage, with senior vice president of marketing Anuj Bhasin describing the effort as a way to celebrate “our authentic 1980s heritage by reviving iconic products and ads from our vault and pulling them into the ‘Upside Down.'”
What “No Ordinary Athlete” actually looks like
Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership centers on a 30-second commercial that launched November 3, 2025, narrated by Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett, who Yahoo’s coverage describes as a genuine, real-life “Stranger Things” superfan. The spot follows athletes across football, softball, and basketball pushing past their limits, transitioning from ordinary gym floors and playing fields into the eerie glow of the Upside Down itself.
MediaPost reported the ad debuted shortly after the October 30 release of the season 5 trailer and ahead of the November 26 premiere of the season’s first episode, with the campaign later expanding to connected TV during Netflix’s live Christmas Day NFL broadcast — timed deliberately to coincide with the release of the season’s final episodes. FlickDirect’s coverage adds that the campaign extended into major physical advertising placements as well, including takeovers at Times Square in New York City, Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, and Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Garrett’s home stadium.
“Just like the heroes of Stranger Things, Gatorade powers those who push limits and face the unknown,” Bhasin said of the campaign’s connection to the show’s themes.
The retro products the partnership brought back
Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership brought back two specific pieces of the brand’s own history for the occasion. According to Food & Beverage Magazine, the collaboration revived Citrus Cooler, a fan-favorite flavor originally launched in the late 1980s, releasing it nationwide in limited-edition collector packaging featuring one of five main characters — Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin — along with a separate “Upside Down” edition variant featuring inverted labeling.
The Source reported an even more dramatic throwback arrived on December 4, 2025: Gatorade’s original glass bottle format, unused for nearly 30 years, returned as part of a “1987 Hawkins Capsule” sold exclusively through Gatorade’s own website. That release included Lemon-Lime Gatorade packaged in a retro, limited-edition Upside Down-themed collector’s glass bottle alongside vintage-style merchandise. The choice wasn’t purely a marketing gimmick, either — PepsiCo’s coverage notes the glass bottles had already appeared as props within the show itself, with characters including Eleven and Steve shown drinking from them on screen to match the season’s authentic 1987 setting.
How the campaign reached beyond a single commercial
Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership arrived as part of a much larger wave of brand tie-ins tied to the show’s final season. PepsiCo’s own coverage notes Gatorade wasn’t alone in visiting the Upside Down that season — Doritos ran a parallel promotion featuring a “Stranger Pizza x Cool Ranch Collisions” flavor in vintage-style packaging, alongside glow-in-the-dark limited-edition chip bags timed to the same release window.
Youth Sports Business Report’s coverage of the Gatorade campaign specifically highlighted the breadth of the activation, describing two separate limited-edition merchandise capsules blending genuine 1980s Gatorade branding with Hawkins-inspired design elements, on top of the product releases and advertising placements. Taken together, the campaign reflects a broader pattern seen across the show’s final season — brands leaning not just into general 1980s nostalgia, but into their own specific, decades-old marketing history whenever the timing happened to line up with Hawkins’ fictional 1987 calendar.
For more on another real-world brand collaboration tied to the show’s final season, Read more: The LEGO Creel House covers the transforming house set released alongside the finale. And for the season’s real streaming performance that these marketing partnerships were built to support, Read more: Stranger Things Streaming Records breaks down season 5’s full viewership numbers.
PepsiCo’s own newsroom feature on the Gatorade collaboration goes deeper into the brand’s broader strategy behind the partnership, and it’s worth reading in full here.
Stranger Things 5 | Official Trailer | Netflix
Frequently asked questions about Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership
Why did Gatorade choose 1987 for its Stranger Things campaign? Gatorade’s Stranger Things partnership is built around the fact that season 5 is set in the fall of 1987, the same year the brand’s original “No Ordinary Thirst Quencher” campaign first aired.
Who narrates the Gatorade Stranger Things commercial? The 30-second “No Ordinary Athlete” commercial is narrated by Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, described by the brand as a genuine fan of the show.
What retro Gatorade flavor returned for the Stranger Things partnership? Gatorade brought back Citrus Cooler, a flavor originally released in the late 1980s, in limited-edition character-themed packaging alongside an “Upside Down” variant.
Did Gatorade bring back its old glass bottles for this partnership? Yes. Gatorade released its classic glass bottle format for the first time in nearly 30 years as part of a “1987 Hawkins Capsule,” sold exclusively through its own website starting December 4, 2025.
Were Gatorade products actually shown in Stranger Things season 5? Yes. According to PepsiCo’s coverage, the show’s own season 5 episodes featured characters drinking from Gatorade’s retro glass bottles to match the show’s authentic 1987 setting.
