DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) has launched its largest brand campaign to-date – “Sports Change Lives” – to celebrate the principles on which the company was founded.
“Since DICK’S was founded 75 years ago, we have believed sports have the power to change lives. Whether it’s the friendships made in youth soccer, a coach who became a mentor, or a morning run that puts everything into perspective, the impacts of these experiences are what this campaign is all about,” said Ed Plummer, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at DICK’S Sporting Goods. “Our 75th anniversary is a great opportunity to focus even more of our efforts on the communities and youth sports programs where we can make a lasting impact.”
The major components of “Sports Change Lives” are:
- A new marketing campaign that highlights – through a new 90-second brand anthem – the positive impact sports participation has on individuals’ character, friendships, physical and mental health, academic achievement, and more broadly the ability of sport to bring together and inspire communities and the next generation of athletes. There will also be a second expression of the campaign featuring nine sport-specific 15-second spots. The marketing and media elements of the “Sports Change Lives” campaign were developed by Arts & Letters Creative Co in their first work for DICK’S.
- Becoming the official sporting goods retail partner of the NCAA® and all 90 of its Men’s and Women’s Championships. The partnership will include exclusive category sponsorship rights to select fan events during the Men’s and Women’s Final Four® Games, access to exclusive NCAA championship event licensed merchandise and media investments during the Men’s and Women’s March Madness® tournaments, courtside signage, exclusive content production using historical footage and access to multiple college championships.
- A new program, “75for75 Sports Matter Grant Program,” which will provide 75 Sports Matter grants from The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation of $75,000 each to selected youth sports programs around the country that are truly changing lives through sport on and off the field. “75for75” will distribute more than $5.6 million in 2023.
- A renewed $1.5M partnership between The DICK’S Foundation and Good Sports to provide 20 of the most under-resourced communities across the country with $75,000 worth of youth sports equipment in 2023.
- A new $1.5M partnership between The DICK’S Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to launch the Game On-Community Places to Play Initiative, which will help to create or renovate up to 20 multi-use youth sport spaces in underserved communities.
DICK’S Sporting Goods was founded in 1948 in Binghamton, New York, by 18-year-old Dick Stack, who started his business with $300 from his grandmother’s cookie jar. He also believed in the power of sport and giving back to his community and organized an effort to expand the local little league from four teams to 16 so that more kids could play. Dick’s son, Ed Stack, and his siblings bought the company from their father when it was comprised of two small stores. The legacy of fostering opportunities for young people to compete was continued by Ed Stack, the company’s current Executive Chairman, and remains an integral part of DICK’S culture today.
Since 2014, when the company started tracking its giving, DICK’S and The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation have committed more than $170 million to support young athletes. The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation has set a goal to help give two million kids the chance to play by 2024.
