Scholar Athletes
No kid is looking forward to hitting the books next month, but Northfield, IL-based Kraft Foods is hoping to build some excitement for the return to school with its Win A Sports Star For Your School instant-win game across 50 million packages.
One grand-prize winner gets to choose a professional athlete to visit their school for one day and act as the honorary principal. The on-pack program runs through Sept. 6.
Participating athletes include baseball’s Alex Rodriguez, football’s Jerry Rice, basketball’s Lisa Leslie, soccer’s Mia Hamm and BMX rider Ryan Nyquist.
P-O-P displays, print advertisements and activity at Kraft’s site, toomunchfun.com, support. And, for the first time, the Kraft back-to-school display will be a school house instead of a bus.
Participating products include Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Ritz Bits sandwiches, Handi-Snacks Cheez ‘n Crackers and Bearwiches, nine Post Cereals and Jack’s Pizza.
The prize package also contains a limo ride to and from school, an assembly with a pep talk about excelling in sports and school, and a power lunch for the winner and 10 friends with the sports star in the cafeteria. Plus, students spend the afternoon on the field and the sports star will distribute trophies and sportsmanship awards to winning teams.
One thousand first-prize winners score $100 gift certificates redeemable at most sporting goods stores.
Colangelo Synergy Marketing, Darien, CT; EastWest Creative, New York City; and 141 Worldwide, Chicago, handle.
Kellogg Co. is truly making breakfast portable with its Special K Red Berries Better You Tour. The Battle Creek, MI-based company has teamed with Kroger Supermarkets, Curves fitness centers and CBS fitness expert and reporter Bonnie Kaye for a 12-market mobile tour.
Making stops at Kroger store parking lots and fairs and festivals, consumers can get tips from Kaye and receive fitness assessments and recommendations from Curves representatives. A nutritionist will be on hand to answer questions and visitors can sample Special K Red Berries cereal. Local radio spots and signage in Kroger stores supports. Chicago-based Relay Sports and Event Marketing handles for Kellogg with the radio spots from its Starcom sister agency Leo Burnett USA. The tour concludes Sept. 29 in Wichita, KS. It stays for up to five days in each market.
Panasonic Consumer Electronic Co. has launched a bilingual mobile campaign dubbed Save Your Summer, or Dale Vida a Tu Verano! targeting 18-to-24 year olds. The effort runs through Labor Day. Tricked-out ambulances — Panasonic Fun Emergency Vehicles — are outfitted with the latest Panasonic products, including a home theater system, digital still-camera photo printer and a Nintendo GameCube. Visitors test their vocal chords at karaoke machines and take home samples on Panasonic DVD-R discs.
“Rescue teams” cruise about with digital cameras, portable printers and mp3 players. Rounding out the event are Nintendo GameCube contests, photos with Major League Soccer players and a sweepstakes. Stops include Major League Soccer games, concerts and festivals. An interactive Web site panasonic.com/sys supports with daily instant-win games. Renegade Marketing Group, New York City, handles.
NASCAR is tailgating with big-name league partners and sponsors at Wal-Mart stores in 10 race markets through October. Brands include Coca-Cola, Masterfoods, Kingsford, Kellogg, Goodyear, XM Satellite Radio, Richard Petty Driving Experiences, Nestlé, Energizer, Kodak and Stacker 2. NASCAR on Tour at Wal-Mart will feature race car simulators, display cars, drivers from the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series and other interactive exhibits such as the XM Radio NASCAR Listening Center. The tour will pull into five Wal-Mart stores in each of the 10 markets the week of a local NASCAR race. The exhibit stays for five days and takes up 10,000 square feet. Stops include Charlotte, NC; Daytona Beach, FL; and Chicago. The relationship between NASCAR’s Charlotte, NC-based licensing division and Bentonville, AR-based Wal-Mart is an extension of last February’s Fan Days promotion in stores.
Unilever’s Hellmann’s mayonnaise brand (also known as Best Foods west of the Rockies) is offering the You Don’t Have to Lift a Finger Party Sweepstakes. Through Aug. 31, consumers can enter online at hellmanns.com or best-foods.com or mail in a post card, including details of their ideal party. One winner receives a party worth up to $25,000 as well as their choice of a celebrity party planner. GW Hoffman Marketing & Communications, Darien, CT, created and executed the program for Hellmann’s.
Dead Zone
MONSTER.COM AND SHOWTIME
NETWORKS are offering consumers a job “to die for.” As a part of a sweepstakes to support Showtime’s new series Dead Like Me, one grand-prize winner scores a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, for a walk-on role in a future episode and $10,000. Entries will be taken at Maynard, MA-based monster.com through Sept. 15. National TV, outdoor, print, radio and online ads support. Plus, messages promoting the series and sweeps will be included in 3 million fortune cookies in the New York area. New York City-based Civic Entertainment Group handles the effort for Showtime, New York City, and Monster.com.
