Batters Up
Kraft Foods unit Post Cereals, White Plains, NY, wasted no time putting its new Major League Baseball sponsorship into play.
A kids’ promotion putting 18 “limited edition” baseball cards inside 10 brands hit the field earlier this spring and will run through summer. Packaging boasts see-through windows allowing youngsters to see one of the two cards inside. An instant-win sweeps (with gamepieces printed on interior walls) offers baseball experiences such as batboy stints at the World Series or trips to games.
Boxes also include a “World Pass,” providing access to just-launched Postopia.com. Kids use a PIN printed on the Pass to access content, win prizes, and play online baseball games.
A separate essay contest asks kids to mail in why they’d want to have breakfast with a baseball player, with one winner doing just that at the All-Star Game in Seattle next month. “Baseball is broad-reaching and has ethnic appeal,” says Eric Greisenberger, Post category business director. “Kids attend more baseball games than any other professional sport.”
And Kraft knows they go with their parents, which warrants the separate adult-targeted effort rolling out now. Cereals in Post’s all-family portfolio such as Raisin Bran and Honey Bunches of Oats are being outfitted with in-pack Hall of Fame card collections (eight cards total, two per pack) featuring such past greats as Reggie Jackson, Frank Robinson, and Babe Ruth. An instant-win overlay sends winners to baseball fantasy camps and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
Media support includes TV spots, print ads, and a national FSI dropping later this month. Ogilvy & Mather, New York City, handles ads. Kraft’s in-house team handles promotional components. Other programs will roll out as the season progresses.
Baseball is pretty hot at Kraft right now: New sister unit Nabisco is running an MLB-driven campaign of its own (See Campaign Trail).
