Friday, September 26, 2008

Can brands and sport help the obesity problem


I have been thinking a lot lately about how different brands can utilise their marketing money to help fix social problems in conjunction with growing their own businesses. I think that RED is an awesome idea and it doesnt matter how much money they made vs spent because those marketers wouldve spent that money anyway. So I was asked at UM to write a piece on something relevant locally, that might be of interest globally. So here is a piece I wrote around the hype of the Olympics and how brands have a great opportunity to address the growing social problem of obesity.

3 comments:

Nguyen Duong said...

Just got back from two very "individualistic sporting" events. the Boost Mobile Pro presented by Hurley (surf contest) and the Red Bull Inaugural MotoGP Indianapolis (motorcycle road race). These events sponsored by some relatively big brands in their categories, approached the in-market activation differently.

the Hurley folks activated their "rip my shred stick" exhibition before the finals. this is where Hurley invited the local kids in the community to have a chance to surf with a pro surfer on their personal surfboard and vice-versa. granted, these kids were already surfing... participating in the sport. however, they did get a chance to experience a once-in-a-lifetime session with the pros. i enjoyed watching the groms tear it up w/the pros vs watching the typical "expression session" sponsored by X,Y, Z brand.

as for the Red Bull activation at Indy, there wasn't much that really connected with me as a fan. all they did was throw down a lot of cash for announcer mentions, signage 'n eyeballs, and an army of grid girls. i'm sure RB threw down a lot more cash than Hurley for the sponsorship. so what did they get out of it? If I were RB, I would've partnered with a bike mfg to host a rider safety session or a groms on bikes training pavillion? here was their chance to find young, aspiring talent for the RB Rookie Cup series.

I'm much more inclined to go out and buy another pair of those Hurley Phantom boardshorts than a RB and vodka right now. ;)

Nguyen Duong said...

brands and sports can also help at risk youth as well...

http://www.stoked.org/

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