Castillo: Gatorade wants more J’can sports ambassadors

Michael Lopez Castillo, commercial manager for Pepsi-Cola Jamaica, has great admiration for Jamaica’s sporting personnel and their achievement internationally and wants more local stars to endorse the brand in 2020.

On Wednesday, Gatorade signed young Reggae Boy Peter Lee Vassell as their first Jamaican ambassador, and Castillo, who described Jamaicans as ‘gems’ said they are looking to contract others in the coming year.

“I’ve been working with Pepsi-Cola Jamaica for a year now, and we’ve been working with Peter for the 2019 year, and we see ourselves working with him for a really long period. We want him to interact with kids, because he’s a young Jamaican and we want to influence that mindset, that ‘I am young’ and even if there are a lot of things against me, I can make it,” Castillo said.

“It’s that invigoration of the spirit that you can achieve something bigger, and we want that influence with the younger demographic, and so we are actually looking at expanding sport in Jamaica because you guys are sportsmen and athletes like I’ve never seen. So we want to expand, and we want people like Peter that can take the pride of being proud to be Jamaican to another level and we want to be part of that and help them achieve,” he continued.

Focusing on track and field

Although football will be the main focus in 2020, Castillo hinted that track and field is another of the sports they are contemplating. However, he says, they want these future ambassadors to motivate and help develop sound characters in young athletes.

“I like running (track), and we want people that are really talented that can show the general kid that, ‘Hey I can get to that level’. For this year, though, we want to do more soccer for kids and go all around Jamaica teaching them how to give that solid performance that you (Jamaicans) have in all sports. Jamaicans are valued as one of the best people in the world, so that is what we want, to show what gems you guys are,” he told The Gleaner.

“So for this 2020, we want to be more inclusive with the brand and sports, and we want to create a better environment for young athletes, so they can see the brand not just as a hydration drink, but something that is going to help them get to the next level. Peter is playing on a worldwide level, but he is still very rooted here in Jamaica and we see him as a young talent that in the future will perform and grow and get to that level where most Jamaican athletes are on the worldwide stage,” he added.