At recent cheerleading camps across the country, Propel, a unit of Gatorade Co., sponsored "hydration breaks," handing out "fitness water" after participants exercised; CoverGirl conducted a makeover tour, showing how to apply lip gloss and other cosmetic products; and Skintimate, a unit of S.C. Johnson & Son. Inc., sponsored an in-camp cheerleading competition to anoint a "Smooth Moves" champion.
"The girls literally screamed at each camp when they learned they would get free CoverGirl makeovers and samples," company spokeswoman Anitra Marsh said.
Is there anything that marketers won't try to push on teens? Cota said she turned down offers from tobacco, medicinal and meat products companies that Varsity deemed inappropriate. (The cigarette promotion would have featured an anti-smoking campaign that Cota eventually discovered was sponsored by a tobacco company.)
But that still leaves marketers with plenty to sell to teenagers.
"If you can hook teens when they're young, you have a customer for a lifetime," said Matt Britton, chief of brand development at Mr. Youth, a marketing firm.
About two-thirds of teens are loyal to brands they like, according to Harris Interactive, a market research firm. Forrester Research has found that more than 60% of teens ages 15 to 17 will remain with their bank after they graduate from high school and recommend it to friends.
Nearly half of teens talk about personal care and beauty products, compared with just 29% of the general public, according to a study by research firm Keller Fay Group.
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co.'s strategy to get free samples into the hands of cheerleader Jessica appears to have had its intended effect. "I used Dove [deodorant] once, but ever since I got the little Secret ones, I use those," she said.
Giving away products can backfire when people have a bad experience with them. Brooke Morgan, 13, said she received a sample of Suave deodorant but wasn't happy with it. And bad word gets out: Keller Fay found that teens are slightly more likely than the general public to dis a product if they don't like it.
Consumer advocates aren't wild about enlisting teens as product promoters. Robert Weissman, managing director for Commercial Alert, an advocacy group, said that giving beauty products to young girls introduces them to corporate standards of beauty too early.
