Today, Gatorade’s Gx ecosystem is a huge ecosystem of state-of-the-art products designed to help the world’s top athletes achieve peak performance, ranging from the Gx Sweat Patch (a small stick-on microfluidic patch that measures sweat rate, fluid loss, and more during a workout) to the Smart Gx Water Bottle (which helps you track your daily hydration levels).

But all of this incredible integrated technology was actually born out of an early partnership between Gatorade, Smart Design (a customer research, organizational design, and service design consultancy), and HFC.

Back in spring of 2015, Gatorade and Smart Design were looking for a way to realize their vision of an innovative, totally personalized hydration system for professional athletes. But they needed a partner with the technological skills and expertise to develop a cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) solution that brought together advanced data analytics, wearable technology integration, a kiosk, and customized fluid intake recommendations to create a seamless, user-friendly platform.

The challenge

Smart Design reached out to HFC to help build a bold new vision for Gatorade—a hydration experience that combined the latest in sports science research with new hardware devices that Smart Design had been building. 

To successfully execute this concept, HFC had to architect and build the cloud and client software that would power the entire technical ecosystem. The team worked closely with Smart Design’s designers to design and implement a platform that included a digitally connected scale kiosk, web portal, and web and iOS application for multiple organizations and user types, since it wouldn’t just be athletes using the Gx platform—their hydration specialists and trainers were key users as well.

Gatorade chose HFC to help them:

• Lead the development team to build a prototype and launch the first version of the web and iOS application for the Gx platform
• Build a recommendation engine that would highlight the correct Gx Pods (essentially premixed packets of sports drink concentrate) for athletes to ensure they’re getting the right electrolytes at every stage of exercise and activity
• Work closely with their agency and team during design planning and physical deployments on-site at elite sports schools to ensure a successful rollout

HFC’s approach

Using data and guidance provided by Gatorade's Sport Science Institute, HFC started building an integrated recommendation engine that calculated science-backed Gatorade formulas and quantities for individual athletes based on biometric data (like sweat tests) and upcoming scheduled activities.

This was the centerpiece of the Gx platform, which allows team managers and hydration specialists to track athletes’ hydration on a responsive web dashboard, a web-enabled scale, and smart water bottles that report fluid consumption in real-time. 

HFC collaborated extensively with the Smart Design team during both the design phase and on-site implementation at top-tier sports schools.

The results: A next-generation hydration system for professional athletes

Within just a few short months, HFC and Smart Design rolled out an early version of the Gx platform in the summer before expanding the platform over the next year to include several pro sports teams. 

In 2016, the Gx platform was named a finalist for a FastCo UX Design award.

Just a few of the outcomes of Gatorade’s partnership with HFC:

• The Gx platform’s UX was named an Innovation By Design Finalist in 2016 by Fast Company
• By 2018, more than 50 professional sports teams worldwide were using the Gx platform including check-in stations, personalized sports bottles, and digital hydration-tracking platform

What began as a visionary idea in 2015 evolved into a cutting-edge hydration web platform that combines advanced sports science with seamless technology. Through this partnership with Gatorade and Smart Design, HFC has helped transform how athletes optimize their hydration and reach peak performance with data-driven insights and personalized solutions.

Today, the Gx platform is widely adopted by professional sports teams around the world, setting a new standard for hydration management. With its expanding ecosystem of smart products, Gatorade continues to push the boundaries of performance, ensuring that athletes at all levels can stay ahead of the game—hydrated, fueled, and ready to perform at their best.

Want to create an innovative digital ecosystem that integrates wearables, real-time data analytics, and a forward-thinking user experience? Let’s chat!