+06 Platinum Awards: Reader’s Digest
Thursday, June 1, 2006

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National Word Power Challenge

How Do You Define S-U-C-C-E-S-S?

The purpose of the National Word Power Challenge sponsored by Reader’s Digest is to expand students’ vocabulary in a spelling bee-like contest, and therein lies the bonus: Expanding its own brand and that of the event’s sponsors. Now going into its fifth year, it’s doing that one definition at a time.

"The emphasis was their [sponsors’] products appeal to parents and kids and shows their education support for these programs," says Patty Bogie, Reader’s Digest director of marketing integration. "They complement one another in a nice way."

For the 2005-06 competition, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats, Bic and the Universal Studio Resort Portofino Bay Hotel signed on as the main sponsors. Since the program hinges on cyclical advertising, different sponsors are able to phase in and out of the program throughout the year, which allows multiple advertisers to align themselves to a program whose audience is teachers, parents and students. "It’s kind of a phased approach – different exposures and different programs," says Ellen Morgenstern, director of PR at Reader’s Digest.

The yearlong campaign begins in-book with editorials and advertorials leading up to the national NBC-televised event in April where over 50 students nationwide define logic (and the word itself) for a top $25,000 scholarship. NBC personality Al Roker is the competition’s quizmaster.

Sponsors’ thumbprints are ubiquitous throughout the contest, beginning with advertorials in the competition booklets that are distributed to teachers and students. Further visibility is achieved at local competitions via signage and continues to the national stage broadcast in commercials. Following the competition, sponsors are able to gain exposure through samples and interactive usage at educator conventions held throughout the year.

Sponsors maintained effective visibility through an interactive Web site that was an educational component for teachers and a digital training ground for students. "If a teacher said, ‘go home and go online to take a quiz,’ students did that," says Bogie, adding that sponsors were able to connect further with parents and students online.

The National Word Power Challenge and Reader’s Digest go hand-in-glove, or word-and-definition, according to Morgenstern. "It’s a signature of the magazine," she says. "I hear the first thing families do when they get home is open up the magazine and quiz each other. This is something to take into a new level of experience and take it into a new arena, which are the schools. The reach of the program and kids that we’re reaching is very strong and very broad."

Says Bogie: "It really takes the main audience to every degree of what the advertiser is most interested in."

• Total Integrated Program: ESPN, ESPN The Magazine's Next 2007
• Platinum Winner: People, People's Sexiest Man Alive Series
• Platinum Winner: Bonnier Corp., Field & Stream's Heroes of Conservation
• Print/Online Bundle: WIRED Media, Xerox Custom Cover Project
• Sweepstakes: SmartMoney, "The Fantasy Portfolio Manager Challenge"
• Top Integrated Marketer: Yung Moon, Executive Director of Creative Services at SELF Magazine
• Event/New Event Programming: National Geographic Magazine, Experience Parks and Conservation
• Custom Publishing Project: MindShare/Time Warner/American Express, The Ticket
• Advertorial: Reader's Digest, "Service Stars" -- Four-Part Advertorial Series for U.S. Army

1. Total Integrated Program: ESPN, ESPN The Magazine's Next 2007 — October 1, 2007
2. Vickie Szombathy - Vice President, Media Director, StarLink Worldwide — April 1, 2007
3. Scott Kruse: EVP, Director, Print Services, MediaCom — April 1, 2007
4. Brenda White - Vice President, Director of Print investment, Starcom — April 1, 2007

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