Alka-Seltzer Tackles Tailgating Heartburn

Golic blogs about the playoffs on Alka-Seltzer's tailgating site.

Alka-Seltzer is serving up a radio and online campaign starring ESPN Radio host Mike Golic timed to the NFL Playoffs.

The centerpiece of the campaign is an online contest that lets one winner spend a day in ESPN’s studio with Golic, an NFL retiree and co-host of ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning” program. Golic also appears as a football commentator on other ESPN shows.

A dedicated Web site, Alka-Seltzer Tailgating Central, invites fans to submit a 500-word essay describing their best tailgating moment. Fulfillment house Arrowhead Promotions will choose five finalists; Golic himself will choose the top winner from among those five. The contest runs through Feb. 12. Thirty-second spots, starring Golic, air on ESPN Radio to drive fans to the Web site.

The site also hosts Golic’s blog, with weekly updates on the playoffs, and a downloadable coupon for $1 off Alka-Seltzer.

Sports marketing shop Octagon Group, Norwalk, CT, handles the campaign for Bayer HealthCare, the Morristown, NJ company that markets Alka-Seltzer.

Alka-Seltzer racked up sales of $106 billion last year in food, drug and mass stores (excluding Wal-Mart), according to Information Resources Inc. The brand’s total sales were up 3%; but its flagship antacid/analgesic tablets were flat at $36 million. Its biggest flanker product, cold/allergy/sinus tablets, had sales of $51 million, down 2.2%, IRI said.

For more stories on games, contests & sweeps