Winners of the Powerade® “Power Up Your Athletic Program”

Powerade® teamed up with 55 Wal*Mart stores, 5 (#1) Local TV stations, and 26 radio stations across south Louisiana and Mississippi to award eight lucky high school athletic programs with $4,000 each to use for upgrades of their choice! Power Up Your Athletic Program promotions in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, LA and McComb, Laurel/Hattiesburg, and Biloxi/Gulfport, MS ran August 1-September 30th.

Through point of sale materials on Powerade® displays in Wal*Mart stores, signage displayed on high school doors, office windows and vending machines, and A LOT of local media running across television and radio assets, students, parents, teachers, and coaches were encouraged to submit a brief paragraph or video describing why their athletic program deserves $4,000 in upgrades! Whether the band needs the money for a some new instruments, or the volleyball team needs the money for new uniforms, or the swim team needs the money to travel to that regional swim meet with high dues…every high school sports program had a shot at winning the money!

Communities, Coaches, students, neighbors, brothers, sisters, ANYONE had the opportunity to nominate their favorite high school athletic program! More than 100 entries from parents, students, coaches, and alumni telling us why their program deserves the FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!

A panel of Coca-Cola and Wal*Mart representatives along with media partners across each market came together in October and voted on the most deserving and well written entries to award the money to. Plans were to surprise the winning teams/nominees with over-sized checks for $4,000 at high school football pep rallies or other school functions in October, with media covering the presentations.

November, 2013, wrapped up Coca-Cola UNITED’s Gulf Coast Region’s “Powerade® Power up Your Athletic Promotion” awarding $24,000 to Louisiana and Mississippi high school athletic programs in need of new uniforms, equipment, and other resources!

Coca-Cola partnered with 40+ Wal-Mart stores across six markets, and the program led to increased Powerade® sales in those Wal-Mart stores during the promotion. On Premise Coca-Cola reps coordinated formal check presentations with the principals at each high school, surprising the winning teams with $4,000 checks at pep rallies held at each school! Local television, radio, and newspapers covered the events and every student attending the pep rallies walked out an ice cold Powerade®.

Powerade® suprised six additional athletic programs with second place prizes of $2,000 each, bringing the total Powerade® grants awarded to $36,000!!

Check out highlights and winners below!

Baton Rouge Division Vice President, John Miller awarded McKinley High School’s baseball team with $4,000 at a pep rally held in on November 8. Joshua Bennie is a senior baseball player at McKinley, and it was his nomination that won the team the $4,000 prize

Southern University Baseball Coach, Roger Cador, joined Sarah Gillis and Melanie Clark (Marketing) at the McKinley High School presentation, where he gave a motivational speech to the winning baseball team and school!

North Forrest High School’s Track Team took home the grand prize in Hattiesburg.  Working with only a $1,000 budget, Track Booster Secretary Tessie Reid submitted the winning video showing why their program deserved to be Powered UP!  CHECK OUT THE AWESOME VIDEO ON YOUTUBE!

What could be named in the top three most creative videos submitted for the Power Up contest, Ricky Cain starred in the winning video Stone High School’s football team in Wiggins, MS created!  The video was shown to the entire high school at their November Pep Rally where Cain and the team were surprised with the announcement!  CHECK OUT THIS CREATIVE VIDEO FROM STONE HIGH SCHOOL!

North Pike High School’s football team in Summit, MS were the recipients of McComb’s Power Up prize!  These four football players created a funny video showing the outdated equipment and facilities they use that won over the judges’ hearts and landed their team the $4,000! CHECK OUT NORTH PIKE’S COOL VIDEO!