ConAgra Taps Sponsorships for Summer Promos

ConAgra Foods is readying a slate of summer promotions that will spur sampling and brand loyalty for a handful of key brands using a range of sports and entertainment sponsorships.

"By integrating our products into high-impact sports, entertainment and lifestyle properties and programs, we can turn the passion of these fans into a passion for ConAgra Foods brands," said ConAgra VP-Sponsorship & Event Marketing Michael Hargrave in a statement. "The fun part is tailoring programs to meet consumers where they eat and play, which gets us into all sorts of hot, action-packed pastimes -- from baseball and NASCAR to action sports and chili-making."

ConAgra revs its longstanding NASCAR sponsorship with Banquet brand's Fuel Your Family Racing Event campaign. The in-store and out-of-home effort taps three NASCAR events: The Banquet 400 (Kansas Speedway, Oct. 1, 2006); driver Tony Stewart's stint behind the wheel of the No. 19 Banquet Car (Texas Motor Speedway, Nov. 4); and the Daytona 400, leveraging Banquet's status as the official frozen meal of Daytona International Speedway.

ConAgra will use its Six Flags sponsorship to support Orville Redenbacher's; Hunt's Snack Pack (sold as part of parks' kids meals); and Hunt's Ketchup.

DAVID Seeds brand marks its 80th anniversary with a Summer Baseball Tour that brings a new vehicle, the DAVID Seedmobile, to 27 cities where baseball fans can measure their fastest pitch with a speed gun, catch sample packets of DAVID Seeds from a Spitter Car, play in seed-spitting contest and tour MLB player memorabilia.

Meanwhile, Hebrew National Franks extends its baseball stadium concession reach with an in-stadium and in-store campaign pitching Hebrew National as a step above other ballpark fare.

ConAgra returns for its second year as sponsor of the World's Championship Chili Cookoff in its hometown of Omaha, NE, on Oct. 6-8, anteing up a $5,000 prize for the best red chili using ConAgra brands, including Hunt's tomatoes, Gebhardt's chili powder and Ro*Tel diced tomatoes and chilies. Meanwhile, a separate retail promo, the Ro*Tel Football Rivalry, with customized executions including local radio, P-O-P, sampling, and couponing in retailers' booklets; local sweeps overlays will award college football tickets, stadium hospitality suite passes and game-day shirts.

Slim Jim will sponsor the Dew Action Sports Tour and BMX rider Dave Mirra. Slim Jim hosts a branded booth with a vertical climbing tower, a Wheel of Snap game and Slim Jim Showers to mist hot spectators (PROMO Xtra, Feb. 1, 2006)