2009 PRO Awards: Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year

Agency: Alloy Media + Marketing
Client: Procter & Gamble

Old Spice has always been looked upon as something a man’s father or grandfather would use, but not a brand cool enough for the younger male generation. Old Spice wanted to break through that stereotype and reach the younger audience.

The Red Zone Player of the Year program, now in its ninth year, promotes excellence in high school athletics. There are three components of the program: Player of the Week, where coaches nominate players by submitting their stats on oldspiceredzoneplayer.com/ and give them branded Old Spice premiums. Play Clean kits teach about the dangers of steroid use, and include coaches’ talking points, a DVD, quizzes, FAQs, letters for parents and more. In the third element, high schools can nominate a player of the year on six attributes: determination, performance, leadership, courage, endurance and tenacity.  

In August, the start of the high school football season, coaches received Red Zone Player of the Year program kits, including samples of deodorant, body wash and body spray, as well as a play book, cooler, player of the week prize packs and locker room signage. Newsletters, mailers and online messaging are sent to coaches from September to November. Advertising ran in in-school media.