Campaign: Save Lids to Save Lives
Agency: In-house
Client: General Mills, Minneapolis
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But find ways to improve it.
That was the strategy adopted by David Fisher when he inherited Yoplait USA’s sponsorship of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure program. “It talks directly to our audience, and everyone here loves being part of it,” says the brand’s director of consumer promotions.
Yoplait’s involvement has grown steadily since the brand initiated the alliance as sponsor of the Race’s volunteer program in 1998. After serving one year as a national sponsor, in 2000 the brand signed a three-year pact to be presenting sponsor.
The Save Lids to Save Lives continuity effort has grown accordingly. In 2000, the three-month effort pledged an initial $550,000 to the cause and an additional 10 cents for every pink-foil lid consumers mailed in. The bright tops adorned all 150 million six-ounce yogurt packages in distribution. National TV spots and print ads in women’s magazines supported.
Participants were encouraged to form collection teams they could enroll in a contest at yoplaitusa.com. That let friends and relatives across the country work together toward a trip to Paris. More than 400 teams were formed, with the winning group gathering more than 20,000 lids.
More than five million lids were redeemed overall, which let Yoplait cut a $1 million-plus check for the Komen Foundation. Cup volume rose 20 percent compared with the previous year — when record volume also had been posted.
Yoplait’s sponsorship goes beyond Save Lids to include three levels of on-site activation at the Race’s more than 106 events. (That effort was also recognized as one of the year’s best campaigns. See “Finalists,” pg. 54.) “It’s one of the few multi-platform programs that we have,” says Fisher. “It gives us a good opportunity to provide a consistent message. And Komen Foundation is a well-known name.”
Although Yoplait can’t identify the specific success the sponsorship brings, “the brand has been growing 16 percent every year. You just don’t see that with established brands,” says Fisher.
Sounds like it ain’t broke.
