SAF Wednesday E-Brief - 06/20/2007  (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
Headlines
•  Deceptive Listing Laws Move Ahead in Calif., N.Y.
•  Denver Post Reports SAF Home Makeover Tips
•  Colombian Growers Struggle to Turn Profits
•  Tropical Rains Give Fla. Growers Hope
•  Bridal Magazine is 'Spot On' with Flowers
Newsmakers
•  Hortica: 120 Years and Counting
Trends
•  Government Survey Charts Decline in Number of Florists
•  Here Comes the Bride ... At Target?
Life at Work
•  Step Away from the Cheetos
Tips
•  Be True to Your School (Drink Pepsi!)
Regular Features
•  Reader Feedback: Summer Rose Supplies
•  Reminder
•  Talk on the Forums
•  Product Spotlight: The Hip Giver's Guide
•  Spring Holidays Peak with Mother's Day Florist Sales

Be True to Your School (Drink Pepsi!)

If you advertise at local high school sporting events, you may soon face some big-name competition. That is, of course, if you aren't already facing that competition.

Recognizing that teens have disposable income and varied interests -- from sneakers to grooming products and high-tech gadgetry -- companies such as BIC, S.C. Johnson and Son, Nike, PepsiCo and Playtex Products are teaming up with marketing and ad agencies to reach high school students directly, particularly "influential" athletes and cheerleaders.

"High school kids are more sophisticated than a generation ago," Mark Ford, president and publisher of Sports Illustrated in New York, said to the Times, "and brands like Nike and Gatorade are on to this, reaching athletes at a much earlier stage than they previously have."

"We've spent more than 30 years building our relationships with customers," explains Jeff Webb, chief executive at Varsity Brands in Memphis, which specializes in goods and services for high school cheerleading and dance teams. "In the last 10 years, our programs with consumer marketers have expanded dramatically."

Companies also see teen-centered events, such as high school football games, as a way to reach parents, grandparents and siblings, according to the story.
 
"In many, many communities, high school athletics is one of the premier events," Lisa Cochrane, vice president for integrated marketing communications at Allstate Insurance, which sponsors teams and supports athletic departments at more than 700 U.S. high schools through individual agents. "Teenagers themselves are not big customers for insurance, but their parents are. And they will be, in the future."

Not everyone is impressed with the marketing push: "Youths are overwhelmed with commercial messages," Robert Weissman, managing director at Commercial Alert in Washington, a nonprofit advocacy organization, said to the Times. "To the extent possible, schools should be a haven from those pressures."
 

--Mary Westbrook
mwestbrook@safnow.org