"Ideas that Work" is a periodic feature developed for The NCAA News by the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators. Individuals interested in contributing information may telephone Trip Durham of Elon University at 336/278-6708.

Elementary School Days
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Rob Zullo, assistant director for sports marketing

To further promote two Olympic sports, Virginia Tech tapped the target audience of the local elementary school system.

During the fall, Virginia Tech offered physical education teachers the opportunity to have the Hokies' cross country team visit their schools and discuss the importance of physical fitness, good sportsmanship and proper nutrition while also describing cross country. After the lesson, the kids were taken to a makeshift cross country course where they were given posters and pompoms before an actual varsity race. Sitting in strategic spots, they cheered the Virginia Tech team to a successful race. The Hokies then signed autographs.

The same promotion was conducted in the spring for the women's lacrosse team, which visited two elementary schools and discussed the history of the sport and the fundamentals of the game. Brief sessions were conducted on passing, shooting and running with the ball. Later that week, the two schools bused their classes to a Virginia Tech home game. There, the kids received free pompoms, stickers and posters, and some even practiced their new lacrosse skills in a halftime relay contest. The event was successful and will be repeated in future years.

Girl Scout night
University of Oregon
Greg Graziano, director of marketing

During a women's volleyball match and a women's basketball game, local Girl Scout troops were invited to attend a match or game at a discounted price. Flyers were sent to all troops in the area specifying the date and time of the event, as well as where tickets could be purchased. Presenting the flyer at the time of purchase allowed troop members a discounted price of $3 per general admission ticket.

The flyer also specified a chance for those who brought the best banner to win a pizza party courtesy of Papa John's. Troops were judged by the marketing staff and were encouraged to wave the banners during a timeout or during a critical point of the game or match.

The promotion has been a huge success with area Girl Scout troops. About 60 flyers were redeemed for volleyball and 700 were redeemed for basketball.

Read to Win
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Heidi Cuca, director of marketing

The Nebraska women's basketball team and the department of athletics marketing offered local elementary schools the opportunity to be a part of the "Read to Win" program, which successfully reached 15,000 elementary students who read more than seven million pages. The Nebraska athletics department offered the program to all Lincoln area elementary schools in an effort to promote reading to kindergarten-level to sixth-grade students.

The Nebraska women's basketball team encouraged children to read as much as possible during October. Every school received a video featuring coach Paul Sanderford and several women's basketball players who explained details of the program. The video was shown before the program to students and faculty. It explained the contest rules and got them excited about the program.

The rules provided that parents could read to young children and to children who needed special assistance. Children recorded the number of pages they read and worked to get prizes. The marketing staff scheduled an assembly for each school in which members from the women's basketball team and coaching staff talked to students in a 30-minute program.

Those who participated received a Nebraska women's basketball poster and bookmark featuring the women's basketball schedule. Everyone in kindergarten through third grade who read 100 or more pages and those fourth through sixth grade who read 200 or more pages received a certificate. The most prolific reader in each classroom received two tickets to a women's basketball game. The most prolific reader in each grade in all of the participating Lincoln schools was recognized at a women's basketball game and received two season tickets to the remaining home games and a prize from Barnes & Noble.

The most prolific reader overall received recognition at a women's basketball game, two season tickets to the remaining home games and a prize from Barnes & Noble. The winner also received a basketball autographed by the women's basketball team. The elementary school whose combined students read the most pages received two tickets per student to a women's basketball game. Also, the entire women's basketball team, coaching staff and Li'l Red (the mascot) went to the elementary school for a pep rally.