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CASE STUDY:
CAMPBELL'S | SALT LAKE OLYMPICS ISSUE: As an official sponsor of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games, Campbell’s Soup Company needed to do something extraordinary to stand out from the other sponsors. IDEA: A Coyne PR worked with Campbell’s to develop the “SOUPer Olympic Parents” program to raise awareness of its sponsorship. The campaign was created to honor the parents of the Olympic athletes, for all the time, transportation and encouragement they showed in support of their child to help get them to the Olympics. Fifteen finalists were gathered by having the US team from each sport nominate a parent of a current team member. The agency held a press conference at the US Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles to announce the finalists, and presented each with a check to help with travel expenses to and from the Olympics. Spokespeople included former Olympians Debi Thomas, Paul Wylie, Eric Heiden and Phil Mahre. Kristi Yamaguchi, whose mother Carole was the honorary recipient of the first-ever SOUPer Parent Award, was also in attendance. These spokespeople served as the panel of judges to make the final selections, which took place during the Olympic Games. IMPACT: The story broke with a piece in USA Today in early January, and also gained placements with the AP, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and The Dallas Morning News. Following the appearance of silver-medal-winning parents Jeff and Ruth FitzRandolph (parents of gold-medal-winning speekskater Casey FitzRandolph) on CNN during the Olympics, 29 different television stations ran the story. Cammi Granato, captain of the women’s hockey team, and her SOUPer gold-medal-winning mom Natalie appeared together on NBC’s “Today” to discuss the Campbell’s honor as well. |
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Sports Case Studies
