SCC Blog

LiveStrong Part Deux: “Feed the Warrior”

The seven-time Tour de France winner is again leveraging his amazing sporting accolades to maximize his marketing power.  On the heels of one of the most successful brand campaigns, Lance Armstrong and company are pushing the LiveStrong brand as a means for raising more money for cancer research.  This time, however, the promotion is tied-in through a major sporting goods retailer (Dick’s Sporting Goods).  The partnership between Dick’s and Armstrong serves as an excellent example of cause marketing for all you teachers out there.  Proceeds from sales of the Livestrong/Nike branded merchandise will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a group formed to help those impacted by cancer.  The retailer will also reportedly donate $1 to the foundation for every Armstrong-branded Dick’s Sporting Goods gift cards sold.

You may have seen the Dick’s spots on television.  They feature Armstrong working as a store manager donning a Livestrong t-shirt.  One of the humorous ads shows Armstrong running on a treadmill and chatting it up with a customer.  In the ad, Armstrong keeps telling the customer to “feed the warrior.”  YouTube has several of the spots online.  The commercials are also available at http://www.dickssportinggoods.com.  The Dick’s corporate investor site refers to the ads as the ‘Lance Armstrong: Store Manager’ Campaign in the official press release (our Sports Business Program members may want to view the release by clicking here for another sample for the classroom).

According to the company, Dick’s teamed up Armstrong for his athleticism and steadfast determination.  “He’s the ideal example of the enduring athlete,” Jeffrey R. Hennion, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Dick’s Sporting Goods, said in a statement.

The LiveStrong program was created with the intention of raising money for cancer research, raising awareness of the disease, and to encourage people to live life to the fullest. It was, at least initially, part of an effort to raise $5 million for the Lance Armstrong Foundation (in cooperation with Nike who manufactures of the “live strong” bands).  According to Wikipedia, the goal was achieved within 6 months, and there have now been 70 million Livestrong bands sold to date.

*** Questions for Classroom Discussion ***

1) What is cause marketing?

2) Can cause marketing be effective in the sports and entertainment industry?

3) What is a foundation?

4) Is this partnership between Lance Armstrong’s foundation and Dick’s an example of cause marketing?  Why or why not?

5) Do you think the television commercials will drive traffic to Dick’s stores?  Why or why not?

5) What can a network do to manage those factors?
 

Posted in Advertising, Branding, Community Relations, Marketing, Promotions, Shoe & Apparel Marketing |

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