A number of teen-targeted brands have teamed up with the Toronto-based publisher of Verve and Fuel magazines, Youth Culture Group, for promotions both on and offline.

Youth Culture’s online media service, vervegirl.com, is linking up with Adidas this month in an online contest offering the chance to win tickets to the EdgeFest 2002 alternative music concert due to take place at Molson Park in Barrie, Ont. on July 1. The contest is heavily advertised in the April issue of Verve.

‘We are finding that the online medium is a very useful way of reaching our primary target of 12- to 18-year-olds,’ says Chantal Chretien, marketing manager for Adidas Canada. ‘There are very few youth magazines that are distributed in schools so we know the kids will hear about it that way and then go online to enter. It’s a useful way of positioning the Adidas brand in the minds of that core group.’

EdgeFest, organized and promoted by Corus Entertainment’s teen-targeted Toronto radio station Edge102, makes an ideal brand match for Adidas, Chretien says, as the brands share the same target demo. ‘It’s edgy but still reaches our mainstream market,’ she adds.

The contest comes on the heels of another joint promo, which ran from March 4 until mid-April. Vervegirl offered readers the chance to win ClimaCool Adidas shoes for themselves and 10 friends in its ‘Feel the Breeze’ contest. Browsers were invited to submit their own details and e-mail addresses of 10 friends who would be asked to enter. Although figures are not yet available, Chretien says the contest was a huge success and was extended by a week to meet demand.

And in a joint venture with Wal-Mart a ‘virtual beauty counter’ was set up in late March on vervegirl.com to promote the retailer’s cosmetics range on the Internet.

Visitors to the site’s personal profiler are invited to input details about their hair type, eye colour, etc, to receive a list of recommended beauty products with retail prices from Wal-Mart. As the promo continues through the summer, a different product will be offered every month as a giveaway incentive to the first 100 browsers to enter their personal details. Salon Selectives highlighting foam is the first giveaway.

And Youth Culture, for its part, uses the promo as a means of collecting a database of users to notify of future events and promos.

The Vervegirl site receives an average 85,000 hits a week. Joint venture promos are also in the pipeline with partners including Maybelline, Rogers and House of Blues. The May/June issues of Fuel and Verve will contain a promo guide, which readers can use to obtain freebies and find out about the latest events and online contests.