KanJam Kustom, Buffalo, N.Y., recently launched KanJam Gronk, a backyard party sport that has been branded with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.
KanJam is made up of a disc and two goals. Invented in Buffalo by Charles Sciandra and Paul Swisher in the 1980s, KanJam went into production in 2006 when businessman Mitch Rubin partnered with Sciandra to bolster distribution and accelerate the growth of the company.
The product is supported by Gronkowski’s influence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where videos of him playing the game with family and friends reached a combined audience of almost 4 million viewers.
“Our family grew up playing KanJam and had many fierce KanJam competitions in our suburban Buffalo neighborhood,” Gronkowski says. “It’s a favorite of ours and it’s wonderful to see KanJam grow in popularity all over the world; it’s exciting to be officially part of the brand.”
A multilevel marketing and publicity campaign is planned for KanJam Gronk, including a “Gronk Spike Off” for the upcoming Independence Day holiday. This online viral promotion will include Gronk-sized prizes (Monster energy drinks and KanJam game sets) for those with the most creative spikes. Participants spiking a flying disc into the KanJam Gronk game set will have a chance of being featured via online voting.
There also is planned promotion surrounding NFL tailgating season and a winter holiday push. KanJam Gronk is exclusively available online and will be available for retail distribution on July 15.
For more information, visit kanjamgronk.com. — J.L.