WHEATIES: will put Chris Carpenter, pitcher for the World Series champs St. Louis Cardinals, on the front of cereal boxes that will hit store shelves nationally in two or three weeks. It’s Carter’s first appearance on a Wheaties box, part of the General Mills’ brand’s longstanding tradition of featuring top athletes with commemorative packaging.
USM&P: has named Richard Goodis account director for the agency’s AT&T U-verse account. U-verse is a suite of Internet Protocol-based products and services, which includes U-verse television and super high-speed Internet access. Most recently, Goodis was VP sales and business development for Farstar Marketing in Plano, TX. USM&P is the event management and retail activation agency of The Marketing Arm, a division of Omnicom Group Inc.
THE INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE (IFL): has added Sandals Resorts as a partner. Sandals, a hotel chain, will participate in on-line contests and in-arena giveaways and promotions beginning with the IFL’s World Team Championship semi-final event in Portland today. The first full IFL season will begin in the first quarter of 2007. The IFL, a mixed martial arts team-based league, will give away trips to select Sandals resorts in the Caribbean during their live events, and the athlete chosen as Fight of the Night will also receive his own free trip. Sandals will also create a special promotion on IFL.tv and receive signage on the canvas as part of the partnership. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
BMW: is sponsoring the Professional Golfers’ Association’s (PGA) The Tour Championship to be played today through Nov. 5 in Atlanta. The partnership serves as a precursor to its partnership with the Western Golf Association via the BMW Championship—the third of four PGA TOUR Playoff tournaments that are part of the new FedExCup competition in 2007 (PROMO Xtra July 5, 2006). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
SIMON PROPERTY GROUP: will open its 178 malls at 5 a.m. and host a one-day sweepstakes on Black Friday, the first holiday shopping day after Thanksgiving. It’s the first time that Indianapolis-based Simon is opening early (most retail tenants will open between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.), and could help its tenants better compete with mass merchandisers that have made early openings—and at-the-door promotions—de rigueur for Black Friday. A sweepstakes will award hourly prizes of a $500 Visa gift card; shoppers who use their Visa card to buy a Simon gift card get a holiday-themed gift tin.
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