For The Love Of Kids And Games

With the Kraft Shop and Score program kicking off Sept. 20, shoppers help a favorite high school earn cash for new athletic gear. Just ask kids at Castle High, which was the top winner last year and bought new uniforms for five teams

Susan Sunderland
Wednesday - September 20, 2006
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Gerald Shintaku of Kraft
Gerald Shintaku
of Kraft

There’s a high school competition about to kick off where everybody’s a winner.

It’s the sixth annual “Kraft Shop and Score” event at all Times Super Markets, a friendly competition among shoppers to earn points for Oahu schools. Top earners score a share of $100,000 worth of free athletic equipment and uniforms from adidas/Wilson.

How cool is that?

Well, it’s an honor actually. That’s especially so in a community that judges social standing by which high school you attend. You know the drill.


“W’eah you wen’ grad?” We don’t care if you are a cum laude grad from Harvard or a Fulbright Scholar - sorry, Mayor - it’s all about where you went to high school.

If you’re a brilliant marketing mind, you know that the Shop and Score program is a business incentive and reward strategy that retailers use as a way to bring customers into the store.

Certain brands are promoted - in this case, Kraft Foods, Pepsi, Kimberly Clark and Dreyer’s - and a community relations program also gets a boost. That “give-back to the community,” as Times

CEO Roger Godfrey puts it, is the way businesses bond with the public they serve.

In a small community such as Hawaii, corporate social responsibility is a way of doing business. Places where we do business or are employed exist as social units. They become part of the ohana.

John Akana of adidas
John Akana
of adidas

It is in that spirit that six years ago, Kraft Foods approached Times Super Market Ltd. to be partners in a retail and schools support program.

Kraft Foods is the world’s second largest food and beverage company with a reputation for cause-related generosity.

The concept of the Shop and Score program, as it was presented by Kraft Foods Hawaii’s business manager Gerald Shintaku, was to make it easier for schools to outfit their athletic departments.

Hawaii has the distinction of having the most high school championship sports in the country, according to Keith Amemiya, executive director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association.


Godfrey and his associates quickly saw the benefits of being involved. They know that in today’s age of shrinking budgets and shifting priorities, high school athletics are suffering.

“It is important for the community as a whole to support youth,” Godfrey says, “and sports is a way for young people to develop themselves.”

Besides Times Super Markets, program sponsors are The Sports Line Company, adidas/Wilson Sporting Goods, Pepsi, Kimberly Clark, Dreyer’s, American Savings Bank and the MidWeek/Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Roger Godfrey<br />
of Times
Roger Godfrey
of Times

Game Plan

Actually, the “game” to score points for schools is fun. All it takes is a shopping cart, the goget-em spirit of your ohana as they maneuver the aisles at any Times, a Royal Times Card or school code, and your grocery list.

There are plenty of chances to score. The starting whistle sounds Wednesday, Sept. 20, and play continues through Oct. 31.

There are no complicated rules and playbooks to memorize. No need to devise clever marketing slogans or fill out drawing forms.

But school spirit and personal pride are essential.

Wear your school colors, and make it obvious which team you’re on. We can see that sea of red in Kahuku now and the blaze of purple in Pearl City.

Then shop as you always do, but watch for the items tagged for Shop and Score points.

With the agility of a Castle

High Knight, grab that item off the shelf, and go long for a pass into the cart.

Ka-ching! That’s one point.

If you’ve got the whole family with you, have them fan out like the Kaimuki Bulldogs on a fast break. Brother checks the dairy case for Dreyer’s ice cream. Sister cuts to the paper goods section for Kimberly Clark stuff. Mom huddles with Kraft Foods on the week’s meals. Dad loads cases of Pepsi for Monday Night Football.

Ka-ching. Ka-

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