)
Dick's Sporting Goods with its new "Sports Matter" campaign is "shifting its brand advertising dollars into the broader support of kids’ athletics, addressing the funding crisis facing its core audience," according to Sarah Mahoney of MARKETING DAILY. Dick's VP/Brand Marketing Ryan Eckel said, "We’ve been working on this crowdfunding campaign for about a year, and while we inherently knew that massive benefits come from sports, it’s been really powerful to quantify them." Eckel "declined to give the dollar amount of the marketing effort." He said that the company is moving its brand budget into the 'Sports Matter' TV ads, created by Anomaly." The goal is to "help threatened teams" raise $2M, "which will then be matched" by a $2M grant from Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation. Eckel said the response has been strong, "and we can see activity increase whenever a spot runs." Teams in order to participate "must serve kids in grades K through 12, be affiliated with a school, nonprofit or league, and have been eliminated, at risk of elimination or never able to form because of lack of funds." Eckel said that another part of the effort is a "partnership with Tribeca Digital Studios and director Judd Ehrlich, filming 'We Could be King,'" a documentary that follows the merger of two rival Philadelphia high schools' football teams (
MEDIAPOST.com, 3/11).
