Sporting Try

Back in 2004, the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., makers of Winterfresh gum, began teaming up with Universal Records and Musicland to present concerts at high school football games. It built its tour schedule around regional rivalries that drew crowds of more than 10,000.

At each of eight games, a halftime mini-concert gave attendees a taste of what they might hear and see if they stuck around for a free post-game performance. Teen-targeted Universal artists like O’Ryan headline the concerts.

More than 19,000 Winterfresh gum samples and 8,000 Winterfresh CD samplers (created exclusively for the tour) featuring 10 Universal artists were distributed during the eight weeks. Musicland stores in host towns posted in-store displays encouraging consumers to purchase featured CDs in order to receive a free Winterfresh CD sampler. In one month that first year, over 42,000 samplers were distributed as well as more than 2.4 million gum samples in 550 Musicland locations.

For the 2006 season, the brand partners are kicking it up a notch.

“We want to give brands more time around audiences, while still having our promotions outside the classroom,” says Richard Ford, CEO of Lexington, KY-based event agency iHigh Inc., which helps to bring the concert series to the sidelines at stadiums. The agency is currently hashing out details for this fall, including stretching the one-day events into week-long stops at each school. New York City-based Lifestyle Marketing initially developed the halftime series for client Musicland, which owns Sam Goody and Media Play music stores.

Both shops are trying to give performers and brands more play time with their audience. As for many brands, school sports programs provide the access points.

“There are more events we could coincide with the concerts, like peprallies, parades or week-long celebrations,” Ford says. “We also want to include promotional activities that engage people in the crowd to get them to warm up to the brand. We could, for instance, tell [attendees] something about the product they didn’t know.”

Engaging the 13- to 18-year-olds who attend football games and concerts is a top priority for many brands. Students are heavy-duty shoppers as well as influencers on their parent’s wallets. As a result, each year companies spend millions attempting to reach the young demographic.

But regulatory walls of protection often surround this market — and they are getting higher as Americans react to the childhood obesity epidemic. (The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that the percentage of overweight young people in America has more than tripled since 1980. Of those six- to 19 years old, 16% — more than 9 million — are considered overweight.)

As parents and regulators work to bar junk food and soft drinks from school grounds, brands are refining their marketing efforts. Companies that come across as too pushy could find themselves expelled.

Some industry groups are trying to stay on top of the issue. Last year, the American Beverage Association issued guidelines for beverage makers encouraging them to provide 100% fruit juices, bottled water and sports drinks, and to set aside no more than 50% of vending slots for soft drinks in high schools.

Last September, California restricted the sale of certain foods and soda during the entire school day. Since then, other large school districts have followed suit, including Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago. Similar regulations are being weighed in other jurisdictions.

As a result sales of full-calorie, carbonated soda during school hours declined by 24% between 2002 and 2005, according to a report by the ABA. While purchases plummeted, sales of beverages such as water soared by 23% and 100% fruit juices jumped by 15%.

But tweaking the product mix isn’t the only solution. School sporting events have long provided a showcase for brands; given recent pressures, the appeal of these events as brand platforms is growing. In return for team and event sponsorship, companies get their names above scoreboards, signage around venues and the opportunity to provide students with premiums such as branded T-shirts and loads of sporting gear.

Passing Grade?

But how much is too much? As companies duel for the minds and hearts of school-aged children, they are well aware of how cash-strapped school districts have become. School programs running on empty are in need of financial support to fill the void left by depleting budgets. Exclusive contracts with soft drink makers can provide a windfall, bringing between $27,000 and $230,000 per year.

The situation “creates an ethical conflict,” says Al Summers, director of professional development, National Middle School Association, Columbus, OH. On one side are desperate school districts in need of funding, and on the other, corporations with deep pockets eager to lend a hand in exchange for a school presence.

A 2004 survey conducted by research company Harris Interactive Inc. revealed that 36% of marketers targeting youth-oriented audiences felt that reaching children with marketing messages during school time is important. The survey found that some in-school marketing tactics are seen by youth marketers as more appropriate than others, especially given the fragmentation of the media world.

Sponsoring school sports competitions received a thumbs up, with 84% considering it appropriate. Seventy-seven percent approved of companies that purchase sports equipment for local schools and label them with their logos. The number slipped slightly when it came to outfitting school sports teams with gear with corporate logos on them: 65% approved.

“Principals are getting bombarded with opportunities to do contracts with companies,” says Summers. “They’re the ones who have to be the watchdogs and make the final decisions.”

Sometimes, school administrators’ rulings fall in favor for the brands. For example, last fall, SBC Communications sponsored the Ohio School Athletic Association Regional Football doubleheader at the Cleveland Browns Stadium. The telecommunications company partnered with Cleveland-based Home Team Marketing to secure the sponsorship.

“A lot of what we do is important in delivering funds directly into schools and that can make a big difference with extracurricular programs and scholarship programs,” says Peter Fitzpatrick, president of Home Team.

A typical progam lands signage, public announcements acknowleging the brand and a venue for promotions such as sampling or demos.

Procter & Gamble likes to rub shoulders with high-school footballers. For the past five years the company has presented the “Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year” promotion. Last year 4,500 high school teams participated equaling 1.5 million students across the country. The program gives coaches the opportunity to nominate a player from their football team.

At the end of the year, when each nominee’s stats are compared, 50 students are recognized as the deodorant’s Red Zone’s Player of the Year with a print ad in USA Today.

For participating in the program, athletic departments are rewarded with large Red Zone-branded coolers filled with Red Zone samples, branded towels, shirts and other premiums.

“We wanted to highlight ‘in the Red Zone’ to reward kids for working hard and having the courage for strength where it counts — at the point of sweat,” says Derek White, EVP of Alloy Media + Marketing, the New York City agency that handles the promotion. This year, Alloy will bring the program to an additional 500 schools and is working on an online component to the promotion.

In school hallways and gymnasiums across the country, brands have also found a space to play with gym boards. The three-panel boards include the names of schools and are divided into two panels for a topic of the month editorial (usually sports related), and for the sponsoring brand to place an ad. The third panel is an eraser board on which coaches scribble announcements.

So far, 16,000 boards have been placed in U.S. middle and high schools. The marketing tool has found an audience with branches of the U.S. military and health and beauty companies who see the potential for reaching kids, White says.

Off Campus

Marketers are finding plenty of alternative sport’s venues, as well.

PepsiCo Inc. teams up with Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the NFL to promote “Get Out There & Play” youth competitions. Local coaches, youth leaders and parents sign up at the company’s Web site to host Pitch, Hit & Run baseball competitions open to kids seven- to 14-years old. They also sign up to run Punt, Pass & Kick non-contact football competitions held in schools, parks or at camps from August to September. The competitions draws 4.5 million kids for football, and 500,000 for baseball.

Kids also get a chance to compete in the national championship at the MLB All-Star Game and the NFL Playoffs. Event venues feature Pepsi signage and participants wear Pepsi-branded T-shirts and use equipment provided by Pepsi.

SchoolSports, a magazine covering high school sports in 25 markets. is another target of marketers. The seven-year-old pub has a readership of 910,000 high school students. It covers 20 high school sports and is customized to cover local students in each market.

The pub is a sweet spot for the usual suspects: Nike, New Balance, Reebok, Adidas and Colgate for its Palmolive Speed Stick deodorant. Some brands leverage the print visibility of the ads to tie in to local promotions.

“When it comes to media, [teenagers] are fickle,” says Orestes Carter, associate media director for UniWorld Group Inc., New York City, an ad agency targeting multicultural audiences. “They are not loyal to one media, not one magazine, radio station, or TV show,” Carter warns. “Everybody wants to figure them [teenagers] out but there are only two ways of reaching them: sports and music.”