Quaker Oats reported its earnings for the 1stQ of FY '95, a
31% decline from last year's 1st Q. Included in this decline was a
pretax reserve of $18.4M for an estimated litigation cost related
to a '84 trademark lawsuit involving Gatorade advertising.
William Smithburg, Quaker Oats Chair & CEO, attributed the loss to
"higher marketing expenses," especially for Gatorade North
America: "Our aggressive support of Gatorade during a period of
major competitive expansion has been successful. Gatorade's most
recent market share is up and the category has grown"
(Quaker)....Group W Marketing signed with First Auto Sports
Television to handle FAST's national ad sales for auto and
motorcyling racing. They will handle ad sales on Prime
SportsChannel and ESPN (BRANDWEEK, 10/24)....CNN's Terry Keenan
reported: "The Marlboro Man is back and he is riding high.
Marlboro's maker Phillip Morris is expected to join other tobacco
giants in raising prices by 4%-6% in the next few weeks, a
dramatic about-face for an industry which until recently was
involved in a vicious price war" ("Moneyline," 10/25)....Douglas
Ivester makes his first major speech as new Coca-Cola President
today in Atlanta when he addresses InterBev94, the beverage
industry's convention (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/26). ....The
Capitals introduce the first phase of the "Capital Streeters"
Nike/NHL Street Hockey Program this week. "Capital Streeters" is
a joint venture of the Caps and the NHL, and will bring the game
of hockey to over 2000 middle schoolers at 10 locations in
suburban MD. The Caps join 13 other NHL teams with over 600
program centers in the Nike/NHL Street Hockey Program
(Capitals)....In this week's BRANDWEEK, Elaine Underwood profiles
Disney's efforts to appeal to singles at its theme park locations.
One of those efforts includes ESPN opening a sports bar at
Disney's "Boardwalk" (BRANDWEEK, 10/24 issue).
