Dick's Makes Gifts Matter

Dick's Sporting Goods tried to help holiday shoppers find a "Gift that Matters" this year.The sporting goods retailer introduced the seasonal theme in its Nov. 25 circular, which showcased outerwear from The North Face and private label Koppen on its front page. The tab also promoted online-only "Cyber Week" deals on products from Under Armour, TaylorMade, Reebok, Nike and other brands. Email blasts supported the Cyber Week deals. In stores, the "Gift that Matters" slogan was used on ceiling signs, door clings, counter cards and rack headers. (See Related Images at right.) Digital ads ran on consumer sites such as hark.com.Several TV spots airing locally aimed for the heartstrings by portraying sporting goods as memory makers, including one starring former National Football League player Jerome Bettis. The spots ran from Thanksgiving through Dec. 23 in 60- and 90-second versions on networks such as ESPN and the Golf Channel. A longer version of the Bettis spot was used as a digital ad that ran on yahoo.com's home page from Nov. 25 to Dec. 9. (See videos below.)Bettis also was employed in a print ad running in such publications as Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN The Magazine, social media updates and a "Gift That Matters" catalog. The former Pittsburgh Steeler previously served as spokesperson for Dick's' concussion-awareness program. (See "Dick's Enlists …" in Related Articles.)Distributed in stores and by direct mail, the 80-page catalog presented deals on hundreds of products in categories such as apparel, footwear, fitness, team sports, outerwear and camping. Among the featured brands were Under Armour, Nike, adidas, Asics, Wilson, Achushnet Co.'s Titleist, The North Face, Burton, Wolverine Worldwide's Merrell and Stack-On. The catalog also directed consumers to stores and dickssportinggoods.com to find the deals, which were valid from Nov. 26 to Dec. 24.Elsewhere, a themed sweepstakes running Nov. 26 to Dec. 7 on Pinterest invited consumers to create and share a personalized "Gift that Matters Wishlist" board comprising at least five products from Dick's' own board. Participants were entered into the sweeps, which awarded $500 Dick's gift cards to five winners. A similar sweeps running Dec. 5-21 via Twitter and Instagram awarded store cards of varying dollar amounts.Holiday marketing had officially kicked off in the Nov. 11 circular, which directed consumers to find online-only "Pre-Black Friday" deals on the website. The deals were the same ones presented as the in-store "Door Busters" on Black Friday. Spotlighted products included items from Nike, TaylorMade, Callaway Golf, Barnett Outdoors, Benelli USA, SmartWool Corp., Carhartt, Remington Arms, Johnson Health Tech North America, and the exclusive Slazenger Raw Distance line from Sports Direct International.A dedicated Black Friday circular distributed on Thanksgiving Day contained a wrap of "Door Busters" offers, which included $25 off a future receipt with a $149 purchase of outerwear and $20 off a future receipt with a $100 general purchase. The offers were valid from midnight to 2 p.m. on Nov. 23.The rest of the tab touted a "2-Day Gift Sale" on Nov. 23-24 covering products from all departments. Those deals also were available on dicksportinggoods.com from Thanksgiving through 2 p.m. on Friday and included products from the aforementioned manufacturers along with Wigwam Mills, The Timberland Co., Smith & Wesson Holdings and exclusive brand Epic from Epic Fitness. An email blast supported.Seasonal circular activity continued through a Dec. 15 tab in which Dick's outlined the deadlines on various shipping options to ensure delivery of online orders by Dec. 24.In other efforts, a Dec. 12 email blast offered "12 Deals of Christmas," linking to a list of products from The North Face, Under Armour, Columbia Sportswear's Sorel and Columbia, Reebok, Koppen, TaylorMade's Rocketballz, Nike, Bauer Hockey and Impex Inc.'s Marcy Pro. A Facebook update supported.In seasonal cause marketing, Dick's solicited donations for longtime partner St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital (see "Dick's Plays 'Family …") via ads in email blasts and in-store signage.

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