Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Fri, Aug 7 1992 Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 04:31:46 EDT Message-ID: 08-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update Aug. 7-9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network ENDORSEMENT GAMES BEGIN: As the Barcelona Summer Games drift towards a close, dozens of athletes are readying themselves for a far more lucrative event: The Endorsement Games. No deals have been announced yet. But athletes, their agents and marketers are jockeying for big bucks Madison Avenue deals on everything from headache remedies to soft-drinks. It looks as if mostly women will emerge as the winners. (For more, see special Endorsement package below.) COORS DEBUTS ZIMA CLEARMALT: Coors is creating a new brew that it considers a clear winner outside the beer market. Called Zima ClearMalt, the colorless malt beverage will debut Sept. 14 in Nashville, Sacramento and Syracuse. The drink is brewed like beer, has a similar 3.7% alcohol and 150 calories but doesn't taste like beer or malt liquor. Coors has not schedule a national rollout, so the test is considered low risk. TRUCKERS TO GET OWN NETWORK: Joining the strong coffee and great pie at truck stops this October: Truckers Television. Other special channels already target patients in doctors' offices, fitness enthusiasts in health clubs and shoppers in supermarkets. Truckers TV will offer weather, traffic conditions and national and international news. It will reach those who are unreachable to advertisers using other media. CHANNEL NEEDS ADVERTISING: American Transportation Television Network, part of ATTN:AVECA Entertainment. Co., is talking with potential advertisers representing a range of products for the new Truckers Television. Beer, wine and cars are among those being approached as advertisers. U.S. SNACKS TEAM UP IN EUROPE: The European Community approved plans Thursday by two giant U.S. companies - Pepsico Foods International and General Mills Inc. - to team up to make potato chips, cookies, biscuits, candy and chewing gum in six European countries. Snack Ventures Europe will become the largest maker of snacks in Europe. The joint venture will have annual net sales exceeding $600 million, the companies said. CONSUMERS BEING CHOOSY: July sales reports by big retailers were mixed, evidence that wary consumers are settled into their picking and choosing. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted some of the strongest gains, while department stores showed signs of improvement. But Sears, Roebuck and Co. reported a drop in business, due in part to cool weather that has nipped into sales of seasonal items like air conditioners. DEC TOP MAIL-ORDER CATALOG: Digital Equipment Corp. racked up $1 billion in catalog sales last year, toppling Dell Computer as the computer industry's top mail-order company. Direct Marketing Magazine, which tallies the top 250 mail-order companies every year, says DEC Digital jumped to No. 16 from 39, while Dell fell to No. 94 from 32. IBM became the second-largest mail-order computer seller last year. ZMELIK WEARS REEBOKS, TOO: The world's greatest athlete does wear Reeboks. He just wasn't the one featured in the company's $20 million ad campaign. It was Reebok athlete Robert Zmelik of Czechoslovakia who won the gold medal in the decathlon while Dave Johnson, who for eight months has starred in Reebok's advertising, struggled to take the bronze. Reebok isn't saying how it will handle the outcome in its ads. ELECTRONIC MINUTE BEGINS: ABC has hit the streets with a cross-media package dubbed the CapCities Electronic Minute. It includes spots on the ABC network and affiliates, ABC radio and three cable stations in which Cap Cities has interests: ESPN, A&E and Lifetime. As part of this deal, ABC is offering roadblocks - spots running as near to simultaneously as possible on all the properties. PAPERS ADJUST CLASSIFIED ADS: The Classified Telephone Sales division of the Detroit Newspaper Agency has initiated a program to generate more revenue from non-corporate classified ads. To advertise items costing under $300, an advertiser may have classifieds placed in the Detroit News and Free Press that allow for additional lines or days at no extra cost. The minimum requirement is two lines for one day. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON ENDORSEMENTS: JOYNER-KERSEE TOP PICK: In the past few Olympics, women have been been winning a greater percentage of individual gold medals. They've also been behaving themselves better than their male counterparts, and marketers are finding that they are cheaper - and perhaps easier - to deal with. Sharon Disson of D&F Group suggests, in order, Jackie Joyner-Kersee (track), Gail Devers (track) and Shannon Miller (gymnastics). OFFERS SHIFT TO WOMEN: Given the powerful celebrity status and marketing appeal of past gold medalists such as Mary Lou Retton and Florence Griffith-Joyner, there's a slow-but-steady shift in sentiment favoring women athletes. An added bonus: They're comparatively inexpensive. Most will fetch $50,000-$100,000 per endorsement deal, vs. $200,000 for male counterparts. MALES ACTING BOORISHLY: Costs aside, women have something else going for them: Some male Olympians have come across as underachievers, whiners or outlandish brutes. Gold medal decathlon favorite Dan O'Brien failed to land a spot on the U.S. squad. The men's volleyball team, in an early protest of a match against Japan, lost their Golden Boy locks by shaving their heads in a show of team unity. BUSINESS IS A MACHO ONE: Still, there are some things working against women. For one thing, athletics and endorsements remain a macho business, dominated by an old-boy corporate network who make the bulk of the decisions on which sports stars to hire. (End of package.) Advertising Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM