Dollar General, Sparkle Launch 'Operation: Stock the Classroom'

Dollar General teamed with Georgia-Pacific’s Sparkle and nonprofit Kids In Need Foundation to run a cause campaign aimed at helping children prepare and succeed this school year by providing free supplies to classrooms and students most in need.The "Operation: Stock the Classroom" initiative was headlined by an Aug. 9 event during which the partners surprised more than 700 teachers and students at Glencliff Elementary School — a metro-Nashville, TN, school with more 75% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch — with school supplies for the entire year, as well as pencil packs, Georgia-Pacific paper products and Dollar General coupons. One teacher was also awarded a Dollar General gift card worth $564, which is a symbolic amount that represents how much teachers on average spend annually on supplies from their own pockets. The Sparkle Fairy and Tennessee Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard also attended the event to drum up support for the initiative. (See video of the event below.)The event also served to spotlight a Dollar General exclusive: Sparkle paper towel in a limited-edition "back to school" print. The SKU was stacked on table displays at the event and depicted on a standee. A home page carousel ad on dollargeneral.com and a Dollar General Facebook update also plugged the SKU this summer, while a dedicated page within sparkletowels.com served to spotlight both the SKU and cause program.The Sparkle brand recently inked a three-year partnership with Kids In Need Foundation (KINF), pledging more than $450,000 in cash and in-kind product donations to recognize and support deserving teachers and their students in several cities across the U.S. Operation: Stock the Classroom is an extension of Sparkle’s commitment to KINF’s annual grant program site supplyaclassroom.org, which lets consumers donate money for school supplies to teachers in need that apply for assistance. Once their request is fully funded (usually when they meet $289 in donations), successful teacher applicants through the site receive two large boxes containing an assortment of school supplies valued at $500. Additionally, the Operation: Stock the Classroom initiative will award a year's worth of school supplies to teachers representing schools in Atlanta; El Monte, CA; Minneapolis; Panama City, FL; Ruston, LA; and St. Ann, MO. (See video below for more information on the program.)“We know that back-to-school season can be a particularly stressful time financially for both parents and teachers,” said Nate Smiga, brand director for Sparkle paper towels at Georgia-Pacific, in a media release. “Operation: Stock the Classroom is a chance for us to help ease some of that worry by providing teachers and students with essential supplies and tools for success. We are honored to partner with Dollar General and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to make this program possible.”Smiga told the Path to Purchase Institute that the brand had a clear objective in mind at the beginning of 2019: "Build a retailer integrated program that is bold, relevant and amplifies what Sparkle and our retail partners are doing to give back and improve the communities and lives of our consumers.”When asked why Georgia-Pacific partnered with Dollar General specifically, Dalyn Mathews, shopper marketing manager, Georgia-Pacific, explained that the brand and retailer had natural synergies. "Dollar General and Sparkle share a mutual consumer interest and commitment to the value channel shopper and were eager to bring her to the forefront of the back-to-school season and help make this time of year easier for her,” Mathews told the Institute.

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