ESPN.com's Darren Rovell reported Jell-O tomorrow will give out "thousands of cups of free Jell-O product" in S.F., as a "gesture to the sad fans of the Super Bowl losing team." Jell-O Senior Brand Manager Greg Gallagher said, "It's a fine line and we don't want to ever come across as rubbing it in. But it was a big accomplishment to get to this game and we want to give these fans a little something to look forward to." Rovell noted the brand will have a "former player from the losing team helping to hand out cups of chocolate pudding, its best selling product, and displaced fans of the team, who don't live in the local area, can download a coupon." A special website that Jell-O has set up will "have a plug-in that fans can download." Once they do so, if the "winning team's name appears in an article on a webpage, that will be blurred out" (ESPN.com, 2/2).
KICKED OFF: In Baltimore, Jill Rosen noted local company Gardiners Furniture offered a promotion in which "all furniture bought between Jan. 31 and 3pm on game day would be free" if the Ravens scored a kickoff return touchdown at the start of the game or just after halftime during last night's Super Bowl. Gardiners Advertising & Marketing Manager Kasee Lehrl said that this year they will be "giving out $600,000 of free furniture" after WR Jacoby Jones' TD to open the second half last night. Lehrl said that since this kind of kick return had not happened "in nearly 50 years ... the store owners figured they were pretty safe." But they "took out an insurance policy -- just in case" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 2/3).
CALLIN' COLIN: Univ. of Nevada Associate AD/Marketing Mike Samuels said that the school and its athletic department "are already benefiting from" 49ers QB and Nevada alum Colin Kaepernick's "time in the spotlight." Samuels: "I promise you we'll see an increase in applications to University of Nevada, because every time he plays they mention that he went to Nevada. ... We get a lot of free publicity from Colin." ESPN.com's Kristi Dosh noted fans who "renew or purchase season tickets" for Nevada football will be entered in a drawing for four tickets and pregame field passes to the 49ers' home opener (ESPN.com, 2/1).
