In-School Marketing: Boardroom to Homeroom

Selling to Kids, August 5, 1998

It's back to school and kids aren't the only ones heading for the classroom. Marketers are taking more and more products from the boardroom to the homeroom and lunchroom through innovative partnerships.

But marketers and companies are learning they must ensure that the schools receive some kind of benefit in return to maximize in- school efforts. The creative methods marketers use to penetrate schools include deals negotiated directly with school districts or through a middle man. As a result, school districts are putting advertising and sponsorship money towards new educational programs, equipment and athletic facilities.

Below is a quick guide to recent in-school marketing programs and participants that offers stealable ideas for your academic year.

Sponsorships

Dow Jones' Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition is an established vehicle for sponsors and advertisers to get into the classroom. It is sent to mostly high school and middle school teachers, and comes with a monthly teacher's guide that includes developed lesson plans and activities, posters and a video produced by CNBC. The circulation is about 121,000 and readership is over 600,000. Articles come directly from the Wall Street Journal, and unlike the Journal, this is a tabloid-size newspaper with color graphics.

Because some schools don't have a budget for the paper, Dow Jones seeks potential subscription sponsors. One-third of its subscriptions are sponsored by organizations, says Yvonne Trella, circulation marketing manager for Classroom Edition.

In March, the General Electric Elfin Organization, an organization of GE retirees, sponsored 17 sets of the classroom edition in Albuquerque, N.M. The cost to sponsor a single school is $165. The more schools, the higher the price.

On the advertising end, Dow Jones works with companies, like Compaq Computer Corp. and the Ford Motor Company, that want to market products to teenagers.

The advertisers and sponsors "are not only getting something in return, they are giving something to the community. They are not only getting advertising exposure, but goodwill for their product," adds Trella.

The cost to become a advertiser for The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition varies depending of the kind of package the company wants, ranging from $14,850 to $161,900. If a company wants to run a black and white one-page ad one time, the cost is $14,850. They also have yearly packages that include an ad in the daily Wall Street Journal, a mention in the classroom video and links to their Web site, which can run up to $161,900.

School Organizations

Some local chapters of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) have teamed with Dannon Company, based in Tarrytown, N.Y., for back-to- school events. For an undisclosed amount, Dannon has bought the rights to use the PTA name on their water bottles, which reads, "Dannon is a proud sponsor of The National PTA."

This Fall, at parent-teacher back-to-school events, parents will receive welcome packets with coupons for free bottles of Dannon water. The first 100 PTAs that sign up for the program will receive Dannon T- shirts.

"[This program] is an added incentive to get parents and teachers to attend [back to school meetings]. It's a membership-development tool for PTAs," says Patty Yoxall, director of PR for the Chicago- based National PTA.

"We've had about 4,800 PTA chapters sign up to participate in this program," says Heidi Mitchell, PR specialist for The National PTA. "The PTA is facilitating and providing resources for parents and schools. Some are print resources, others are product resources .... [Dannon's] reason for being involved with us is that there are a lot of moms in PTA, and moms are their target audience, they are the ones who do the grocery shopping, and have concerns about safety and health." (Karen Miller Pensario, Dow Jones Classroom Edition, 212/416- 2253; Steve Russell, advertising sales manager, Wall Street Journal, 609/520-4298; Yvonne Trella, Dow Jones, 609/520-4292; Patti Yoxall, National PTA, 312/670-6782)

Schools Eat Up Revenue in the Cafeteria

Marketers also are learning that a great path to a student's mind and wallet is through their stomachs. School Marketing Partners creates monthly menus for more than 8,000 schools, reaching over 4 million students. Ads from a variety of companies are featured in the menus, which are provided to the schools for free.

Advertisers include Fox Kids Network, the pop-group Hanson, Warner Bros. and Welsh's Jelly.

"Literally anybody looking to reach kids and families [advertise]," says Frank Kohler, partner and co-founder at San Juan Capistrano, Calif -based School Marketing Partners. "The children take these menus home to their parents and put them on their refrigerator doors for the month. We also offer category exclusivity. There will only be one cereal ad [per menu] so a company won't be put up against a competitor."

Prices for menu advertising is competitive with other print/magazines that are popular with kids and their parents, Kohler says without disclosing specifics.