MARKETING MAGIC

How big biz connects with the very hard-to-reach $200 billion college market.

ABOUT AMERICAN COLLEGIATE INTRAMURAL SPORTS (ACIS) American Collegiate Intramural Sports (ACIS) is comprised of 250 top universities offering co-ed programs that include flag football, basketball and fitness. By sponsoring ACIS programs, marketers can efficiently reach over 3 million 18-to-24 year old college students nationwide—over half of the full-time,  4-year U.S. college student population.  For more information, visit them on their web site: www.acis-college.com

American Collegiate Intramural Sports (ACIS) has recently an-nounced the tip-off of 2006 Pontiac ACIS Basketball, offering major advertisers a unique, powerful and proven channel to connect with the valuable, hard-to-reach $200 billion college market.

Sponsors spend a lot of money for banner exposure in professional and varsity college sports.  With the intramural exposure afforded by ACIS, sponsors spend less and reach more students (not just alums) and they get to really sell their product through experiential sampling among student participants. ACIS helps companies connect with a valuable audience that is very difficult to reach. It’s an excellent opportunity for sponsors.

This season, Title Sponsor Pontiac is being joined by Philips, Old Spice Red Zone, Microsoft Xbox, BIC Comfort 3 and Gold Bond to sponsor the ACIS basketball season, which involves over 200,000 athletes and reaches over 2.4 million students at 250 universities nationwide over the course of the semester. That’s powerful!

Seventy-five percent of college students participate in intramural sports and fitness, making these the number one extra-curricular activity on campus. As ACIS President and CEO Ian Leopold observes, “NCAA Basketball is big-time college spectator sports.   ACIS Basketball is big-time college participatory sports. Over the course of a year, ACIS enables marketers to put their brands and products in front of more than 3 million college students — a consumer base greater than the population of Chicago.”

These grass-roots marketing programs with the ACIS customized approach has generated a sterling track record for helping clients "move the needle." In fact, the average ACIS client saw a 65% increase in the propensity of a student to purchase the products. Pontiac reported an increase of more than 70% and BIC had more than 80%. That's savvy marketing. 

"ACIS programs offer an opportunity for brand managers to help contemporize their products, too, " suggests Leopold. The case of Old Spice is just one such example.  And Pontiac, originally introduced in 1926, is generating plenty of excitement among the cherished 18 to 24 year olds, thanks to ACIS programs.

ACIS works closely with sponsors to integrate their brands and products with the basketball program, making them a natural and exciting part of the total experience.

Over the course of the season, students on 50 campuses will be able to check out the Pontiac Torrent and G6 first-hand, and students at all 200 ACIS Basketball campuses can take part in the Pontiac Solstice Campus giveaway sweepstakes, with the winner receiving the keys to Pontiac’s hottest car. Interest is booming.
From March through April, Micro-soft set up “Xbox Challenge” lounges on 25 campuses with big-screen TVs, couches and Xbox systems and games, including the Pontiac College Hoops tournament, a video game version of the NCAA Basketball tournament. The national championship will be held on Xbox Live, with a grand prize of a Philips flat screen TV. 

Old Spice Red Zone will recognize the Player of the Week and sponsor the Old Spice Red Zone Bracket Challenge, a three-week promotion based around the NCAA Basketball tournament, with the overall top scorer winning a Philips flat screen TV. BIC and Gold Bond will be distributing hundreds of thousands of product samples to students as they enter campus sports centers where ACIS Basketball games take place. In addition, sponsors will receive daily presence and exposure through signage and ACIS MediaBoards in high-traffic locations on campus, as well as logos on sports equipment, giveaway items and players’ t-shirts. 

“We’re delighted with our sponsor line-up this Spring,” said Leopold. “Pontiac is stepping up to the title sponsor spot for both the ACIS Basketball and ACIS Fall Flag Football programs, and Philips has expanded its relationship with ACIS beyond Philips Norelco to include consumer electronics. Other savvy marketers including Procter & Gamble and Microsoft return to sponsor ACIS programs year after year because we offer a highly efficient and effective platform to reach the college market and drive incremental sales.” 

Research indicates that ACIS sponsors consistently achieve purchase intent gains of 65 percent or more.

The ACIS basketball season runs through the end of the Spring semester. Players participate on campus in men’s and women’s divisions during the semester, and top teams compete in one of four ACIS Regional Championships in March. Regional Champions win trips to compete at the nationally-televised 2006 Pontiac ACIS Basketball National Championships in Anaheim, CA this May where the athletes will be hosted by the Disneyland Resort.

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