My husband and I love living in downtown Cincinnati. Our favorite time of the year is when the winter weather breaks and Reds baseball is just around the corner. The taste of hotdogs and $7.50 beer, the smell of freshly cut grass and the heightened anticipation for the season consumes the city!
Sargento, a family-owned cheese company built on tradition and passion, engaged Powerhouse last spring to help strengthen the brand’s sponsorship at Great American Ballpark and their retail relationship with Kroger. As you can imagine, I was excited for the opportunity to work with the Reds and a brand that shares my similar passion.
For many years, Sargento’s sponsorship with the Reds consisted of typical elements including outfield signage, in-game announcements, a “cheesy” Sargento dance cam, and product at concession stands. These components are important to the overall consumer experience; however, to truly revitalize the sponsorship we needed to make a real connection between Sargento and fans. Our solution was to humanize the brand through authentic one-on-one experiences to prove that Sargento is just as passionate about producing natural cheese as Cincinnatians are for Reds baseball.
Each consumer touchpoint was strategically planned to make the “Real Fans Make a Real Difference” experience memorable while also bringing Sargento’s brand promise to life. We activated brand ambassadors fully trained on the points of difference, key messaging and company history to genuinely interact with fans. Relevant engagement activities included live screen printing, poster customization, face painting, mascot appearances and distribution of branded giveaways (e.g., Sargento Mardi Gras style beads, string cheese samples and coupons) which allowed passionate fans to celebrate and connect with Sargento.
By customizing these Experiential Marketing activations to bring the Sargento story to life at Opening Day and local Kroger locations, we successfully engaged with thousands of fans on a personal level, inspired trial and empowered more Reds fans to buy Sargento.
Only 10 days until pitchers and catchers report and 59 days until Opening Day… but who’s counting?
This was one of my favorite experiential activations of my career. I could see consumers making that connection with Sargento that would last beyond the engagement. It was a win win for the brand, the Reds and Reds Fans. Very cool. 58 days until we get to do it again.