Celebrity Name: Caitlin Clark & Tyrese Haliburton
Brand Name: Gatorade
Deal Type: Brand Campaign / Limited-Edition Product Launch
Announced: February 17, 2026
Impact: Places Clark as a flagship face of Gatorade’s Lower Sugar line, deepens her connection with fans through limited collectibles, and spotlights the shared star power of Indiana’s WNBA and NBA leaders.
- Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton surprised Fever star Caitlin Clark on a Gatorade photo shoot set, revealing the return of her favorite Rain Berry flavor in a Lower Sugar formula.
- Gatorade launched 2,200 exclusive Rain Berry bottles with Clark’s name and image, priced at $22 in a nod to her No. 22 jersey and birthday.
- The campaign extends Clark’s growing endorsement portfolio and highlights her long‑standing partnership with Gatorade and bond with Haliburton in the Indiana basketball scene.
Indiana basketball fans are getting a crossover moment as Gatorade just pulled off one of the more feel-good brand moments of 2026, starring two of Indiana’s most beloved athletes in a campaign.
Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton surprised Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark on a Gatorade photo shoot set on February 17, revealing that her longtime favorite flavor, Rain Berry, is officially making its comeback. Clark, who had publicly campaigned for the flavor’s return for years, got to be the very first athlete to taste it again.
Clark teased the moment on Valentine’s Day, posting a photo with a pre-release bottle labeled “Not for retail sale” and captioning it simply: “the greatest flavor ever made.” Then Gatorade dropped the full reveal video, and the internet ate it up.
It’s the kind of authentic, personality-first campaign that’s becoming the new standard in sports marketing just how Flau’jae Johnson’s recent Samsung x Google Gemini campaign let her natural personality drive the entire creative.
After Haliburton handed her the bottle, Clark didn’t hold back. “Rain Berry! Best Gatorade flavor that’s ever been invented right here,” she said. After taking a sip she added, “Even better than I remember. It’s not even close.”
The 2026 version of Rain Berry contains 75% less sugar than normal Gatorade, making it part of the brand’s new Lower Sugar line launching in March, alongside Fruit Punch, Lemonade, and Glacier Cherry.
As women’s basketball continues to generate major brand momentum, seen in deals like Aneesah Morrow’s multi-year partnership with Reebok, Gatorade’s move to center Clark in a product relaunch feels perfectly timed.
To make the moment even more special, Gatorade commemorated the return by releasing 2,200 exclusive bottles featuring a photo of Clark shooting in a Fever jersey, labeled “Caitlin’s Favorite Flavor.”
Each bottle retailed for $22, a nod to her No. 22 jersey, which also connects to her January 22nd birthday, and went live on Gatorade.com on February 19.
The limited-edition bottles sold out almost immediately, with many fans lamenting they weren’t fast enough or blaming the website for crashing due to traffic.
The campaign arrives as Clark prepares for her third WNBA season and her return to the court with Team USA in March, fresh off a groin injury that cut her sophomore season short.
Haliburton, meanwhile, continues to build his off-court profile alongside his Pacers run, quietly becoming one of the most marketable figures in the NBA alongside Kyle Kuzma who expanded his brand presence through campaigns like his recent Champion collaboration.
Takeaways:
This campaign is a masterclass in authentic brand storytelling. Gatorade didn’t just slap Clark’s face on a bottle, they built a full cultural moment around something she had genuinely been asking for.
The Haliburton cameo added a layer of real-life chemistry that money can’t fake. These two have a well-known friendship as Indianapolis teammates-in-spirit, and their on-camera dynamic felt effortless.
For brands watching, this is the blueprint: find what your athlete actually loves, make it happen, and let the authenticity do the marketing.
The sell-out speed of 2,200 bottles in minutes also says everything about Clark’s commercial power. At $22 a bottle, this wasn’t about the drink, it was about owning a piece of a cultural moment.
Do cross‑league pairings like Haliburton and Clark make you more likely to notice a campaign? What does this kind of authentic, personality-driven campaign mean for the future of sports marketing in the WNBA era?
