Featured Press

SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL :: OCTOBER 2007

Firm takes brands beyond the stadiums at college campuses, into intramural events

by Michael Smith

Major brands such as Pontiac, Kodak, Norelco and Xbox have put money behind intramural sports on college campuses as their newest form of sports sponsorship.

American Collegiate Intramural Sports, representing more than 200 colleges and universities, has aggregated the intramural and promotional rights on those campuses and turned it into a sports property that sells a variety of sponsorship levels and activates mostly through experiential marketing.

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BRANDWEEK :: SEPTEMBER 2007

The Game

Kodak Pictures ACIS in Future

by Barry Janoff

Eastman Kodak, which put the "first simple camera into the hands of a world of consumers" in 1888, wants to do the same with its EasyShare printers through a deal with American Collegiate Intramural Sports.

ACIS is an organization formed three years ago that organizes intramural competitions in basketball (spring), fitness (fall and spring) and flag football (fall) on more than 200 college campuses, involving two million students per week.

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ENTREPRENEUR.COM :: AUGUST 2007

College Business Plans that Made the Grade

Find out how these entrepreneurs took their business plans from the classroom to the real world.

by Kristin Edelhauser

It was 1986, and student Ian Leopold was just one class away from graduating. That’s when his economics professor failed his business plan assignment. Other students may have taken the failing grade as a sign the plan wasn’t viable. But not Leopold. “If he hadn’t failed me, it’s very possible I wouldn’t have continued with my plan,” says Leopold, now 43. “Part of me wanted to prove him wrong. I did.” Leopold, forced to stay at Hobart that summer, earned his degree and in his spare time turned his business plan into a reality, entering Northwestern’s Kellogg School in the fall.

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ESPN MAGAZINE :: JUNE 2007

Intramurals Go “Big Time”

Dunk winner’s dream comes true

by Jesse Baumgartner

There’s only one rule when you’;re ballin’ in the house that MJ built. You better bring your “A” game.

The men’s squad from the University of North Texas did just that at the Pontiac ACIS Basketball National Championship, taking home the title with a 56-52 victory over Morehouse College and proving that their team name, “Guaranteed", was for real.

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SI ON CAMPUS :: MAY 2007

Woman of Power

Meet UW-La Crosse’s resident strongwoman

by Nicki Jhabvala

Of the 53 teams and more than 500 participants in the 2007 Pontiac ACIS Basketball National Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C., it may be safe to assume that most of them did not have nearly the “;practice” regimen of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Amanda Wilfer.

Most probably took shots in the gym, had team practices, competed with other IM squads on their campuses – the usual.

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SI ON CAMPUS :: MAY 2007

One-Armed Warrior

Iowa’s Caleb Recker wins the 2-ball title...with one hand

by Nicki Jhabvala

Caleb Recker wanted to be crowned the 2007 ACIS Basketball National Champion so bad that he was willing to do almost anything for it.

The senior from the University of Iowa picked up an all-expense-paid trip to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus with his intramural basketball team, UISSC, to vie for the national title after the team won the Nebraska ACIS Basketball Regionals on March 4.

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ESPN MAGAZINE :: JUNE 2006

Intramurals Go “Big Time”

This ain’t your father’s intramurals.

by Darryl Howerton

Oh, hell no!

High-flying 6'4" NFL prospect A.J. Bryant was leaping over bodies for dunks. 6' 1" sexy-big-and-beautiful Kaci Fulton was knocking bodies out of the way and men and women from the title-winning teams were draining 3’s like no tomorrow. The 2006 Pontiac ACIS Basketball National Championships in Anaheim on May 14 played like a mix of NCAA Championships meets Streetball, when the Georgia Southern men and Tarleton State women won the tournament in dynastic fashion.

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EVENT MARKETER :: MAY 2006

Good Sports

Blue-chip brands put sponsorship dollars into college intramurals

Pontiac hits millions of eyeballs with its three-year-old NCAA sponsorship, adn the brand buys plenty of media to support the program. (If you caught any of this year’s men’s basketball tournament on CBS, you can attest to that.) It’s quality exposure through a top-tier property, but excitement about the brand doesn’t automatically trickle down to future car buyers at the participating schools.

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SI ON CAMPUS :: MAY 2006

The Happiest Place on Earth

IM hoop champs square off at Disneyland

by Adam Maya

It had been almost two hours since A.J. Bryant flew over the competition in the dunk contest. While his Georgia Southern teammates celebrated after beating Northern Kentucky to win the American Collegiate Intramural Sports (ACIS) national men’s basketball championship, Bryant asked for one final assist.

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SMALL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES :: APRIL 2006

Marketing Magic

How big biz connects with the very hard-to-reach $200 billion college market.

American Collegiate Intramural Sports (ACIS) has recently announced the tip-off of 2006 Pontiac ACIS Basketball, offering major advertisers a unique, powerful and proven channel to connect with the valuable, hard-to-reach $200 billion college market.

Sponsors spend a lot of money for banner exposure in professional and varsity college sports. With the intramural exposure afforded by ACIS, sponsors spend less and reach more students (not just alums) and they get to really sell their product through experiential sampling among student participants. ACIS helps companies connect with a valuable audience that is very difficult to reach. It’s an excellent opportunity for sponsors.

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IEG / SPONSORSHIPS.COM :: FEBRUARY 2006

Surveys Prove Beneficial To Property And Its Sponsors

Actions speak louder than words and American College Marketing has the sponsor retention rate to prove it.

Recognizing that the fortunes of its American Collegiate Intramural Sports property are inextricably linked to sponsors’ success, AMC chose not to rely on assumptions that the target audience would respond to corporate partners. Nor did it place responsibility for measuring return solely in the hands of those sponsors.

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