DID MLB WELCOME ITS SPONSORS TO THE PRE-SHOW PLANNING?

     MLB's integrated marketing campaign, built around the theme
"Welcome to the Show," also calls for cooperation of corporate
sponsors.  But, according to Jeff Jensen in the current AD AGE,
"some key sponsors said they had yet to be contacted about
participating."  Peter McLoughlin, Group Dir of Corporate Media
at Anheuser-Busch:  "We haven't heard much more than we've read
in the papers, and I don't think we'd get involved, not like we
did with [the NHL's] 'Game On!'"  But McLoughlin said A-B will
continue to spend as much on baseball as in years past.  Jensen
also notes that some marketers are staying away from baseball
until there is a labor agreement.  True Value Hardware's
VP/Marketing Chuck Kremers:  "We have a deal with MLB, but we
aren't activating it at this time" (AD AGE, 4/24 issue).  MLB ran
a full-page ad in today's USA TODAY featuring the "Welcome to the
Show" logo and the words, "Opening Day, April 25th."  ESPN also
ran a full-page USA TODAY ad featuring a picture of a bat and
words in the shape of a ball that reads: "Why not think of it as
a seventh-inning stretch?  That just happened to last 257 days.
Baseball resumes:  Opening Day Game Dodgers vs. Marlins Tonight
at 7:30 PM ET" (USA TODAY, 4/25).