BUMBLE BEE IS HELPING "FREE WILLY"

JUDY CORCORAN

SAN DIEGO -- Bumble Bee Seafoods here and Warner Bros. Pictures have developed a unique in-school and in-store program to tie in with the July release of "Free Willy II" and to help Keiko, the whale from the first "Free Willy" movie.

Bumble Bee, which calls itself "dolphin-safe and whale-wise," has supplied "Free Willy Discovery Kits" to 73,000 teachers, who in turn pass them on to other teachers and students. Bumble Bee expects to reach 6 million children, parents and teachers overall.

The School Discovery kits, matched by zip code with a supermarket retailer in each school area, are tagged with a note of sponsorship from Warner Bros., Bumble Bee Tuna and the participating local store. The kits are designed by Alba Kids, a promotion agency specializing in family promotions. The aim of the program is to teach kids about marine mammals in both an entertaining and educational way. The kits include a teacher's guide, six months' worth of school projects, a wall poster, pogs (used in a popular children's game), a classroom game, and take-home sheets for parents that tell how to collect Bumble Bee proofs of purchase to use toward a "Free Willy II" video. Aim Promotions, an entertainment marketing company based in Astoria, N.Y., put this promotion together. "We've offered more than just sizzle for Bumble Bee," said Patti Ganguzza, vice president of marketing. "We've created a profile for the brand that works creatively and thematically."

Ten thousand special in-store Bumble Bee Tuna displays will hold tearoff pads with coupons kids can send in to get "Free Willy Discovery Kits" sent to their schools. "This is where this promotion really comes together," said Albert Carlson, president of Alba Kids. "Parents can see the display in-store and say, 'What about my kids?,' and send in the tearoff sheet."

At the same time, the kids can be bringing home from school kits with local retailer names and the Bumble Bee/Free Willy video offer. "The sales department at Bumble Bee wanted a promotion that would be displayed at retail," said Carlson. "What this program does is tie Bumble Bee directly to consumers and to local retailers through the schools. We've had 7,000 letters from teachers, so far, requesting more kits and more materials." This promotion also has raised more than $500,000 toward the future care of Keiko, the original "Willy," through the Earth Island Institute, a nonprofit organization in California. Amid much controversy, an international advisory group has suggested Keiko be re-oriented for release into the ocean. It is trying to move him from a tank that's too small in Mexico City to a larger facility in the United States. A mechanical facsimile of Keiko was used in "Free Willy II."