Englewood Cliffs, NJ, January 10, 2007 – FUZE Beverage Company will jumpstart ‘Spring 07” with a viral marketing campaign in which students from eleven of the most prestigious Design Schools across the Country will vie for the chance to best creatively capture brand FUZE through the innovative use of multi-media.
The competition will challenge advertising, design and communication students to develop compelling creative and to construct a media plan that best integrates new media with traditional media. There will be multiple teams within each university competing. The school itself will determine its winning campaign to position against the other schools in a national competition. FUZE is awarding an $8000 scholarship to the winning team from each school. The team with the best overall campaign will be flown to NYC to personally present their campaign to FUZE executives, CEO and founder Lance Collins, CMO Bill Meissner, Creative Director and Founder Paula Grant and a nationally known high profile advertising executive. The campaign will be solely sponsored by FUZE.
The schools competing are as follows: The Art Institute of New York, Michigan State University, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Academy of Art University, Cal State Fullerton, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Austin, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Portfolio Center, Creative Circus and Savannah College of Art and Design.
Beginning in January, FUZE will individually distribute a startup kit to each school in a live demonstration download. Students will be equipped with a brand brief, product and graphical assets to begin their campaigns.
According to Bill Meissner, CMO of FUZE Beverages, the campaign accomplishes two things. One, a platform for trend-setting college kids to tell us how they view our brand, and two, a catalyst for conversation among kids on the unique nature of FUZE relative to older Alternative or New Age beverage brands.
“Kids are smarter than ever and they are savvy enough to know when their being marketed to even if it’s under the radar. Our approach is to engage them to interact among themselves about branding, advertising and design, keeping the conversation much more organic and authentic” says Meissner.
Many brands are attempting to find new ways to reach the 18 to 24 year old demo. This group’s media habits are far different than the generation that preceded it. Many large advertisers are now diverting funds to “buzz” marketing firms in an attempt to gain word of mouth or pass-along brand communication.
“Buzz marketing has become such a cliché, and kids are already weary of big corporate brands trying to buy their way into pop-culture to define the message. We need to let the kids generate their own channels and platforms for the discussion on brands that resonate with them” Meissner adds.
******************************
Since 2001, FUZE Beverage, LLC has been reinventing beverage industry standards by introducing non-carbonated drinks that are “infuzed” with real health benefits and antioxidants without high fructose corn syrup. With over 350 distributors throughout North America and the Caribbean, FUZE is stocking supermarkets and convenience stores with healthy beverage alternatives: Slenderize, Refresh, Green, White and Oolong teas and the new Vitalize line. FUZE is available nationwide and can be found in: Whole Foods, ShopRite, Costco, Acme, Albertsons, Circle K, Giant, Hannaford, Safeway, Sav-On, Holiday Stationstores, Jewel, King Soopers, Kroger, Kum & Go, T/A Travel Centers of America, Publix, QFC, Sheetz, The Fresh Market, Tops, and other fine stores. Visit WWW.DRINKFUZE.COM for more information and your local market to get the great taste of Fuze to help you “Look Good and Feel Good.”