US Ad of the Day: Dick’s names Westinghouse football team as its first grant recipient
Dick’s Sporting Goods is marking its 75th anniversary by providing 75 low-income student teams across the US with $75,000 grants.
Retail chain Dick’s Sporting Goods is celebrating 75 years with ‘Sports change lives,’ the brand’s largest campaign in its history, and a new grant program that will support underprivileged youth sports organizations.
According to the brand, ‘75for75’ is a new initiative that will grant 75 underprivileged youth sports organizations $75,000, totaling to over $5.6m. 75for75 also equips student-athletes with after-school training and tutoring, pre-game nutrition, and improving their training facilities and equipment.
Yesterday, Dick’s announced the varsity football team at Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse Academy as the first grant recipient. The brand says Westinghouse and Coach Green earned the first $75,000 grant after making it to the top of their league despite not having a single matching set of dumbbells and only two barbells for 54 student-athletes.
An emotional short film created by Dick’s tells the story of how the Westinghouse team overcomes adversity, in the forms of poverty and violence, every day. “They don’t know that we know what it feels like to get shot at, so why would I be scared?” Green tells his team. “We come from the darkest places, fellas.”
The film comes as part of Dick’s largest-ever brand campaign, ‘Sports change lives.’ Announced on Thursday, the campaign was created by Arts & Letters Creative Co. to demonstrate the positive impact sports have on our mental health, academic achievement, friendships and beyond.
“Since Dick’s was founded 75 years ago, we have believed sports have the power to change lives,” the brand‘s chief marketing officer and senior vice-president Ed Plummer said in a statement. “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.”
The brand also recently announced that it has become an official sponsor of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, starting with March Madness this year.
Credits
Production: Dick’s Sporting Goods
Agency: Arts & Letters Creative Co.
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