Intriguing 30- and 60-second television spots for Gatorade began airing, in English and French versions, across Canada yesterday on sports networks. They will appear on TSN, Sportsnet, RDS, LeafsTV, CBC and SRC until the end of June.

A division of Peterborough, Ont.-based Pepsi-QTG Canada, Gatorade worked with Toronto’s Downtown Partners to come up with a campaign that CD Dan Pawych tells MiC is ‘aimed at 13-24-year-old hockey-obsessed Canadian athletes,’ and supports the tagline ‘Is it in you?’

In three executions the ‘What’s Inside’ animated spots begin on the ice and then seemingly journey into the mind and other innards of hockey star Sidney Crosby. In one, the interior trek reaches the NHL player’s engine room where Stanley Cup-shaped pistons and green Gatorade fuel labour amid pucks mimicking coal and flames inside a hockey mask.

An online component at www.gatorade.ca will launch later this month. It was created by Tribal DDB, the digital and interactive arm of Toronto-based DDB Canada, and will allow visitors to navigate through and explore the secrets of Crosby’s physical performance in more detail than the TV spots. Toronto’s OMD is handling the media buys.