GENERAL MOTORS PLAYS HARDBALL WITH OLYMPICS DEAL

     In an interview with BRANDWEEK, GM North American Marketing
and Advertising head Phil Guarascio said that the company is
close on a '96 summer Olympics sponsorhip deal, but have been
unable to come up with a mutually agreed price.  According to
sports marketing sources, GM offered $5M for the domestic auto
sponsorhip, though ACOP had been asking $8M to $10M for its
"second tier 'supplier' rights package."  Guarascio feels that
his bid is a fair one because the Olympics are "occuring during a
typically slow sales period for the auto category."  And since GM
has already paid around $50M for an ad package on NBC's Olympic
broadcast, he wants prices set "accordingly."  Guarascio:  "In
the future we will not see one price per category.  If you're
sponsoring a ski event it might be worth $100,000 for Solomon
Skis, but maybe only $20,000 for, say, Ray-Bans" (Eric
Hollreiser, BRANDWEEK, 1/9 issue).