• USA Today, Monday, August 27, 2007 11:30 AM

Since back-to-school is top of mind for so many parents and students this time of year, many marketers are tying in with the new school year--even if it's sometimes a real stretch. Besides necessities, such as pencils and spiffy new jeans, this season's back-to-school marketing comes crammed with pitches for such unlikely items.

Disney Mobile is hawking a back-to-school cell phone--it can locate kids on a map--with print ads. Baskin-Robbins is pitching new Oreo items to "lick away the back-to-school blues." One ad for Vicks new Early Defense hand sanitizer-which P&G dubs a "back-to-school essential"--shows a bottle inside a kid's zippered pencil pouch.

The California Raisin Marketing Board is sponsoring a back-to-school sweepstakes with the winning family getting a trip to Disney World or Disneyland. And Sara Lee has named Sept. 5 "Take Your Whole Grain Sandwich to School Day." Thanks to bagged lunches, bread sales surge this time of year, says Peter Reiner, vice president of Sara Lee Brands.

Read the whole story at USA Today »