On Thursday, Facebook‘s last day as a private company before its fairly tame IPO, employees cheered CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a spontaneous ovation. Facebook product designer Francis Luu captured the moment (and posted it to Facebook, natch). The photo later made its way onto WSJ’s AllThingsD, garnered over a thousand ‘likes,’ and attracted a dozen comments, including the Zuck saying, “This was a really touching moment for me. Glad you captured it,” and another commenter noting, “Double Gatorades…nice.”
Gatorade may in fact be the liquid version of Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie. The ‘Thirst Quencher’ seems to be almost as ubiquitous as Zuck’s famed overwear. He’s “gulping down Gatorade” in news stories. There was a bottle of it sitting on his desk in a photo he posted to Facebook after announcing the company was going public. It was in the background while he was being taped talking to Israeli president Shimon Peres. Out of just five photos he’s posted to Instagram…
… a portrait pic of a bottle of European Gatorade made the cut. The other four Instagrams feature what I can only assume are the other things closest to Zuck’s heart: his girlfriend; his dog, Beast; and his MacBook Air.
He may be eating only animals he kills himself, but when it comes to hydration, it seems Zuck turns almost exclusively to the Pepsico-owned sugary sports drink. (Facebook had no official comment.)
Brands often get to benefit from celebs’ unofficial adoption, as J. Crew did when Michelle Obama started showing up in their clothes. Sometimes, though, brands aren’t so happy to be affiliated with an attention getter. Abercrombie & Fitch famously asked members of the Jersey Shore to stop wearing their clothing, even offering to pay ‘The Situation’ for the unendorsement.
That’s not the case with Gatorade. Though Gatorade commercials usually feature muscle-bound athletes sweating their way through an intense moment, Gatorade is thrilled to be ‘liked’ by a man whose most-famous sweaty moment occurred while being asked questions about privacy.
“We love that Mark is a fan of Gatorade as we’re definitely fans of Facebook,” says Gatorade president Sarah Robb O’Hagan. “Both of our brands are innovators constantly looking to push the envelope, so we think it’s fitting that one of the world’s most innovative people turns to us when he’s looking to quench his thirst.”
Zuck didn’t used to be so loyal to the electrolytes. The “first time any newspaper took a photo of him,” the young Zuck’s Harvard desk was awash in empty Snapple and Sprite bottles. That must have been before Zuck transformed himself into a “brogrammer” — one who ‘bros down and crushes code…’ and refreshes himself with a beverage for extreme types.