Tampax is targeting teen athletes with an online sponsorship on a fledgling social networking site.
The Procter & Gamble brand will sponsor a cheerleading competition on Takkle, a new site for high schoolers. It’s the first in a series of “battle” competitions that Takkle will stage, with brand sponsors. A Bench Press Battle, sponsored by nutritional supplement marketer Met-Rx, runs at the same time as the Cheerleader Battle.
Tampax takes on the sponsorship just as its top competitor, Playtex, undertakes a major marketing effort to reach high school and college athletes.
In January, Playtex Products began sampling Playtex Sport tampons to high school and college athletes and cheerleaders, and announced several athlete-friendly sponsorships, including the National High School Athletic Coaches Association and the National Cheerleading and Dance Championships (PROMO Xtra, Jan. 30, 2007).
For Tampax’s battle, cheerleaders submit videos of their best cheers at Takkle.com to compete for $10,000 in gear. Leaderboards on the site track competitors’ performance over 10 weeks, through May 18. Takkle will choose 10 finalists to post on the site for members to vote for a winner. The top vote-getter wins a $10,000 gift card (funded by Tampax) redeemable at America’s Best Cheer and Dance. The winning squad also will be featured on Takkle.com for one month.
Meanwhile, the separate Bench Press Battle invites students to submit videos of themselves bench-pressing 185 lbs. as many times as possible to vie for a grand-prize package of $5,000 worth of Met-Rx products.
New York-based Takkle handles the contests in-house.
“Takkle is an innovative way for us to interact and communicate online with female high school athletes, obviously a critical market segment for us,” said Sarah Hagopian, Tampax brand manager, in a statement. “Cheerleaders are passionate about their sport, and we’re eager to see the innovative video cheer routines competing in the Battle on Takkle.”
Takkle plans other Battle competitions in soccer, lacrosse and basketball, featuring professional athletes including Freddy Adu, Mikey Powell and Orlando Magic’s J.J. Redick, respectively.
“We’re launching a brand new athletic arena for high school athletes. Now [they] will compete not only against cross-town rivals, but with high school athletes across the country as well,” said Takkle CEO David Birnbaum in a statement.
The social-networking site launched in December 2006 with its first sponsor, Sports Illustrated, and a contest built on SI’s long-running “Faces in the Crowd” magazine feature (PROMO Xtra, Dec. 14, 2006).
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