Research Topic: Under funded youth athletic programs in the United States
Youth athletic programs are some of the most beneficial extracurricular activities for school aged children. Team sports provide not only an outlet for regular exercise, but also teach student athletes the importance of working with a team. Unfortunately, many public schools nationwide are drastically cutting their athletics budgets, decreasing athletic opportunities for students and often charging families for their child’s participation. Nike, as such as large name in sports, is in a position to create a campaign that stresses the importance of youth athletics, while providing many of these school districts with donations and the necessary equipment to keep their programs up and running.
The first part of the campaign is getting the word out to the public that Nike is willing to help. Youth athletics programs that are experience budget cuts will submit a proposal on Nike’s website to become a participant of the campaign. Nike will then work with each individual district to help them raise money for their team. Nike will match every dollar raised by each district as well as providing benchmark prizes (i.e. uniforms, sports equipment) for certain dollar amounts raised. This will be made known to the public through direct mail promotional pieces such as brochures, postcards, and letters.
The intended message of this campaign is to raise awareness on the benefits that youth athletics have on students, to encourage districts not to cut budgets for these programs, and to increase Nike’s brand image. The target market for the campaign includes youth athletic programs nationwide and community members from the participating towns. For the sake of this project, I will use the city school districts from Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse to demonstrate participating communities. I will focus on targeting parents with school aged children (5-18 years old) who would be willing to donate, students aged 5-18 years old who should be aware of the athletic programs they could be involved in, and local politicians to gain support for the campaign and encourage donations from the community.
Target Audience
Who?
● Parents of school aged children the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse city school districts
● Students aged 5-18 years old in the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse city school districts
● Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse local politicians
Why?
My target audience is anyone who has an interest in preserving youth athletics programs in Buffalo, Rochester, or Syracuse. Parents of school aged children should be aware of the benefits that these programs could have on their children, which would make them more willing to donate to the campaign. The students should be aware of the athletic programs they could be a part of, encouraging them to raise awareness around the community. Local politicians can pledge their support for the campaign and be encouraged to set budget floors for youth athletics.
Data
● Statistics on the benefits of youth athletic programs
● Data on youth athletic programs in the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse areas (logos, school colors, athletic budgets, number of students, number of student athletes)
● Data on households in the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse city school district with a school aged child (addresses, name of child, age of child, school district)
● Data on Rochester’s local politicians (names, positions, addresses)
Creative Concept
The three deliverables for this campaign include a brochure, a postcard, and a letter.
A brochure will be distributed by Nike to households with a school aged child. The brochure will be addressed to the head of the household and will be intended to provide information to the parents of the students. It will explain the district’s partnership with Nike as a part of their “Every Athlete” campaign, give brief statistics on the benefits of youth athletic programs, provide a link to the districts donation page, and lists all donations available from Nike. A brochure was chosen to provide information to parents because it includes elements of design that will grab their attention, while providing them with all of the necessary information about the campaign.
A postcard will be used to raise awareness for the campaign among the young athletes. Although this promotional piece is not asking for donations directly, it is making the students aware of the campaign and asking for their support. It is important that school aged children understand the benefits of youth athletics to encourage them to participate. A postcard format was chosen to attract students because of its image heavy design, as children are more attracted to images rather than text. Four versions of the postcard will be distributed, one to female students aged 6-12, one to female students aged 13-17, one to male students aged 6-12, and one to male students aged 13-17.
A letter will be distributed by Nike to local politicians asking for their support in the campaign. It will explain Nike’s partnership with the district, explain the importance of youth athletic programs, and ask for their support in keeping the programs up and running by setting budget floors. It is important that these politicians get behind the campaign and encourage donations as they are thought leaders in the community and have the ability to direct change. A letter format was chosen as it is professional and offers the best opportunity to formally explain the campaign.
Personalization
Brochure
The brochure will representative of the district in which the receiving household is from. This will be indicated through design elements such as colors and logos from the participating school districts. The brochures will be distributed to individual households.
Postcard
The postcard will be representative of the district it is distributed in. This will be indicated through design elements such as colors from the participating school districts. It will feature images of students playing sports based on the recipient’s age and gender. These postcards will be distributed to the student’s home address.
Letter
The letter will be personally addressed to each politician and offer statistics that pertain to their city (Buffalo, Rochester, or Syracuse). The letter will be designed with a simple color scheme representing their school district and have the schools logo printed at the top of the page. The letter will include two data visualizations based on the district’s athletic participation and athletic budgets.
Logic
Brochure
Using XMPie, one of three different layers is visible based on zip code.
Is visible if: Zip = #
Postcard
Using XMPie, one of three different layers is visible based on zip code.
Is visible if: Zip = #
Using XMPie, one of four different layers is visible based on age and gender.
Is visible if: Gender = F AND Age < 13 Is visible if: Gender = M AND Age < 13 Is visible if: Gender = F AND Age > 12 Is visible if: Gender = M AND Age > 12
Letter
Using XMPie, one of three different layers is visible based on zip code.
Is visible if: Zip =
