Virgin Megastores Reprises Campus Tour
Virgin Megastores has set the lineup for its Virgin College Mega Tour, shifting to hip-hop from traditional rock.
The concert travels to campuses in 18 cities this spring, from April through May. The headliner this year is hip-hop rapper Talib Kweli, whose popularity among college students gives Virgin Megastores a halo of coolness as the retailer courts 18- to 24-year-olds.
Two familiar names are still on the playbill: Major League Baseball Properties returns as a sponsor, alongside Cadbury-Adams, which uses this year’s tour to market Stride gum. Stride is the presenting sponsor of the tour. Last year, sister brand Dentyne used the tour to support Dentyne Soft Chew gum (April 2006 PROMO). MLB has been a tour sponsor since 2003. Pontiac does not return after two years as a tour sponsor; its two-year contract ended in 2006.
This is the fourth year that Virgin Megastores hosts the tour. The concerts reached 81,000 students last year; Virgin Megastores aims for an even bigger audience this year.
The tour is designed to drive traffic to Virgin’s 13 stores, and to help the retailer reach a younger audience.
“If we align ourselves on campus with live music, college students will think to seek us out for live music and other entertainment in the future,” said Katy Mollica, director of strategic marketing for Virgin Entertainment Group, North America. “We’ve been able to bring the latest music right to their campuses, which helps us communicate that the Virgin brand is the place to go to discover new music.”
In addition to concerts, the tour brings to campuses a Daytime Village where students can play in Nintendo Wii video game competitions (hosted by Stride gum), get autographs from performers at the MLB Road Show booth, join dodge ball tournaments, and see demos of new technology and games targeted to college students.
“We see direct results with this type of marketing when on the afternoons and on weekends many of our stores are flooded with college-age kids hooked up to the New Release listening stations, digging through the $10 bins and looking to see what events are coming up,” Mollica said. “[The tour] puts Virgin Megastores top of mind for great music with students while they are in school and once they move onto other cities.”
Virgin Megastores supports the tour with print ads, including two half-page ad buys in Rolling Stone next month, as well as signage in Virgin’s stores and on campuses. Integrate Marketing co-produces the tour with Virgin and handles marketing support.
