Army Giveaway Tell Kids: Stay in School
The U.S. Army is looking for a few runny noses.
The Army is handing out packets of branded tissues in New York City high schools to encourage kids to stay in school.
The giveaway is part of the Army’s “Boost” public-service campaign, a joint effort with The Ad Council.
Thousands of tissue packets feature stories of kids who have been helped by the Boost campaign. Individual packets and full-sized boxes of tissues are distributed in classrooms and guidance offices.
“Our campaign focuses on keeping teens in school and found this to be an ideal vehicle to communicate to the students in the classroom,” said Tim Davis, The Ad Council’s executive vice president of media, in a statement.
The giveaway is a joint venture between Zim2, a youth-marketing shop that specializes in in-school campaigns, and AdPack USA, an out-of-home marketing firm. AdPack donated the tissue packs to the Army and Ad Council’ Zim2 distributes the packs in schools.
The packages were distributed last month. AdPack is collecting feedback now, and may expand to schools in other cities, the company said.
The donation is a savvy way for AdPack to get its foot in the doors at schools. Now AdPack can pitch other marketers to use its branded tissue packs to reach the kids in the 100,000 schools, libraries, camps, and youth service organizations where Zim2 distributes marketing materials.
New York City-based AdPack is also working on ways to distribute branded tissue packs in taxis and on airplanes, but has no timeframe for those initiatives, a spokesperson said.
Teen-friendly retailer Five Below gave away 20,000 AdPack packets over the holiday season (December PROMO).
In fact, AdPack is trying to pique brands’ interest with a tissue pack design contest.
Brand managers are encouraged to enter the “Tissue Tactics” contest online by submitting a package design and distribution plan. The winner gets $5,000 and 10,000 free packs of tissues printed with the winning design. Second- and third-place winners get $1,000 and $500, respectively—but no tissues. The contest runs through March at AdPackUSA.com.
