Virgin Megastores returns to college campuses this month with a few old friends: sponsors Dentyne, Pontiac and Major League Baseball.
Virgin College Mega Tour’s title sponsor Dentyne and sponsor MLB return for their third year; Pontiac has reupped for its second year (replacing first-year sponsor Volvo). The April-May tour expands to 20 markets, up from 17 in 2005, with bigger schools, reaching 105,000 to 110,000 students, up from 65,000 last year.
Virgin uses the tour to drive traffic to its 17 Megastores and “leave a great thought in students’ heads about what Virgin is and how we do things,” says Ann Egelhoff, Virgin Megastores’ senior manager of partnerships and promotion.
Virgin touts its year-old apparel and accessories line, distributing bounce-back coupons to send students in-store, where endcap displays tout tour bands.
A daytime “village” lets sponsors host activities (and sampling) for kids, with emerging local bands on stage during the day and Yellowcard at night. Schools pay to have the tour come to campus; Virgin’s track record has bigger schools (think Texas A&M) interested.
Earlier, Virgin ran a modest college tour without live music. “That didn’t make sense to me,” Egelhoff says. “I thought, how could we make it a tour with legs and go to at least 15 to 20 cities?” Finding college-friendly sponsors helped fund the tour, which is “conceptually brought to you by” Virgin Megastores and produced by Integrate Marketing, Chicago.
This year, Dentyne spotlights Dentyne Soft Chew. A karaoke booth lets kids cut their own CD, with their photo on the case; a spin-and-win wheel gives away iPod Nanos. Dentyne is contracted to sponsor the 2007 tour, too.
Pontiac hosts a hoops contest that awards Virgin and Amazon.com gift cards, Delta Airlines tickets and perhaps a Pontiac (for a half-court shot). Pontiac may use the tour to showcase a Torrent sedan outfitted with Xbox gear.
MLB taps Virgin to round out its slate of music tour tie-ins, including Vans Warped Tour (second year) and Bonnaroo (third year). MLB has spent the last four years tying baseball to music to reach 16- to 24-year-olds. “There aren’t many tours out there. You either have to do your own or find a viable one. Virgin is a good fit for us,” says Steve Armus, MLB VP-consumer products.
MLB’s 53-foot tour trailer lets students surf online, play MLB video games, watch game highlights and play in its batting and pitching cages. New retail partner HatWorld/Lids offers a gift-with-purchase Yellowcard/MLB Authentic keychain. MLB handles the campaign in-house; GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, manages its tour vehicle.
MLB follows up as a Vans Warped Tour sponsor with 48 summer dates and retail partner Champs Sports. A “Take a Band to the World Series” sweeps will award a grand-prize trip to the Series with a Vagrant Records band (MLB sponsors a new Warped Tour stage starring Vagrant artists). MLB uses both tours to tout MLB Authetic apparel. Still, “we’re not your typical product sponsor; we’re not a cola or a razor blade,” Armus says. “We’re part of the American fabric.”
Just like music.
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