TLDR
Powerade has answered Novig's Sydney Sweeney campaign with 'Never Just Sports' billboards in Times Square, made by Ogilvy and showing real women athletes. Novig says first-time depositors rose more than 218% around its launch, though that period also took in the start of the NFL season.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The reply on Times Square's screens
Coca-Cola's sports drink brand Powerade has answered Novig's Sydney Sweeney campaign with digital billboards in New York's Times Square carrying the line "Never Just Sports". The screens ran over the weekend, B&T reported, and Ogilvy made the ads, which show footage of real women athletes.[1] The creative turns Novig's word back on it with lines such as "Just defying gravity" and "Just a record-breaking 100-meter dash".[2]
Powerade's US Instagram account posted the reply with the caption "There is no just in sports #PowerYourLegacy".
View this post on Instagram
What Powerade was answering
Novig, a US sports prediction market, launched its first national brand campaign on 9 September 2026 with Sweeney under the line "One platform. One obsession. Just sports."[3] The first ad drew criticism from women athletes. Critics included Australian swimmers Ariarne Titmus and Lani Pallister and sprinter Amy Hunt, B&T reported, and Novig has since run a second ad.[1]
Novig says the campaign worked. It reported that first-time depositors rose more than 218% in the 20 days around the launch.[1] BM Outdoor points out that those 20 days also took in the start of the NFL season, so the figure doesn't show the ad caused the growth.[2]
A big brand answering a small one
Powerade had grounds to reply. It has a long list of women athletes on its books, including Sam Kerr, Simone Biles and Kayla Itsines, B&T noted.[1] DesignRush framed the ads as Powerade's argument that women's sport has never been "just" sport.[4]
The risk runs the other way too. Replying keeps a rival's campaign in the news, and Novig has already shown it is happy to turn criticism into its next script. B&T did not report any response from Novig or Sweeney.[1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
