Against lack of exercise among children: STUCO Fullservice implements DOSB children's birthday box

Together with the German Olympic Sports Confederation, Deutsche Sport Marketing GmbH, Ernsting’s Family and the digital agency Interlutions, PSI member STUCO Fullservice developed the Children’s Birthday Box to get children moving.

Four months after the launch of the campaign, we spoke with Imke Hoppe, a consultant for popular and healthy sports at the German Olympic Sports Confederation, and Andreas Kronberg, Sponsor Relations Manager at Deutsche Sport Marketing GmbH, about their experiences, the response and the future of the Children’s Birthday Box.

Children’s Birthday Box: How did the cooperation with STUCO Fullservice come about?

Andreas Kronberg: “Stuco has already been taking care of the production, storage, order processing and delivery of the ‘German Sports Badge’ since 2021 and is the ‘Official Manufacturer of the German Sports Badge’. Thus, it was a logical step for us to also process the children’s birthday box via the merchandise management system of STUCO Fullservice GmbH.”

According to the WHO, 80 per cent of children do not get enough exercise. Do you see a special mission here?

Imke Hoppe: “Getting children moving is essential, because healthy children become healthy adults. Too little exercise in childhood and adolescence hinders children’s development in all areas and leads to a high risk of lifestyle-associated diseases such as heart attacks or strokes. The German Sports Youth (dsj) in particular, as a youth organisation within the DOSB, is intensively committed to getting children and young people moving. For us, the German Sports Badge in particular is therefore an important building block – not only for introducing children to sport and exercise, but also for long-term commitment to sport. This is also reflected in the number of participants: More than two thirds of those who complete the German Sports Badge are under 18. In 2022, that was around 360,000 children and young people. The children’s birthday box is another good way to convey the fun of exercise to children and to awaken their curiosity for the German Sports Badge.”

Together with Ernsting’s Familiy, you initiated the children’s birthday box. Please explain the children’s birthday box and the idea behind it?

Imke Hoppe: “The children’s birthday box combines two components: On the one hand, it offers parents the opportunity to organise an active and cheerful children’s birthday party in an uncomplicated way. On the other hand, we bring the German Sports Badge ‘into the living room’ and promote the children’s joy of movement in a playful way. The active board game focuses on the basic motor skills of endurance, strength, speed and coordination – analogous to the four groups in the German Sports Badge. They are creatively and thematically integrated into the action games. The box is available in two versions: with and without play equipment. Ernsting’s Family is a national sponsor of the German Sports Badge and supports the birthday box because it conveys the joy of movement to children in a particularly cheerful way. This fits perfectly with their motto: Recommended by happy families.”

What were the biggest challenges in implementing the concept?

Andreas Kronberg: “We wanted to create themed worlds that would excite the children and keep the game exciting for the duration of a children’s birthday party. At the same time, the game mechanics should playfully pick up on the disciplines of the German Sports Badge and implement them in a theme-appropriate way. The game was to be experienced actively and haptically but alsowith digital elements. For this purpose, a combination of a haptic game and an app developed for it with an augmented reality game was developed. The combination of a board game, with active play and sports equipment, as well as the digital added value in the app had to be coordinated and combined into an overall concept. And all that in one box. With the digital agency Interlutions, we had exactly the right partner at our side for this.”

What special criteria did you set for the implementing partners, especially STUCO?

Andreas Kronberg: “In addition to the project-specific criteria, we value partners who are reliable and want to cooperate with us in the long term. We have already worked very well with STUCO in the past. And since they can offer the services we need for the children’s birthday box project from a single source – in addition to the ordering platform, also the packaging and storage of the boxes, the payment processing as well as the shipping management – the cooperation was obvious for us.”

Since the launch in April: What is the conclusion of the campaign?

Imke Hoppe: “We receive very positive feedback from the interested parties and buyers of the children’s birthday box. Among them are not only private individuals but also associations and kindergartens who appreciate the concept of the box. We have achieved our goal of bringing the German Sports Badge and the desire to move to the people in a different way.”

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