May 19, 2006 6:01 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Andrew Scott

When Chicago Cubs fans hit the stands of Wrigley Field next week for a taste of America’s favorite pasttime, they may end up snacking on some free nuts as well.

Five brands—Emerald Nuts, Bull Frog, Gold Bond, Hershey’s and Huggies—will provide product samples to 40,000 fans during this third mega-sampling event on May 27.

The premiums will be given out to fans as they enter and leave the stadium, and to pedestrians passing by.

Emerald Nuts, with its first appearance at the stadium, will have teams clad in branded attire handing out 40,000 chocolate brownie walnuts and glazed pecans, said Jim Barker, senior director, eastern division Diamond Foods Inc., owner of Emerald Brands, Stockton, CA.

“When you do something like this, you’re not using traditional consumer marketing vehicles,” Barker said. The company hopes the non-traditional approach will help it convert fans from samplers to consumers, he said.

Also as first timers, Bull Frog will distribute sunscreen lotions and Gold Bond will offer lotions and powders. Hershey’s, which provided Take 5 candy bars in 2005, will return with25,000 Kissables samples and 25,000 Take 5 bars. Huggies will be hand out products from its Cleanteam baby toiletries line.

Cadbury Adams last year gave away Dentyne packs. In addition, Kellogg’s gave out small boxes of cereal and Master Foods Snickers ice cream bars.

The event helps brands get exposure to a large demographic of consumes in a short period of time with samples and product information, said Mike Balogh, CEO, Schaumburg, IL-based PromoWorks, which handles the sampling events.

The agency and its brand partners will hand the first 20,000 fans entering the gates on game day scratch-and-win Cubs collector cards. The cards give fans a chance to win one of 500 autographed baseballs from player Derrek Lee.

PromoWorks ranked No. 40 in the 2005 PROMO 100 with 2004 net revenues of $23.56 million, up 323% from 2002.

For more stories on sampling

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