ROLLERBLADE BRINGS IN FAMILIAR CONSULTANT TO BOOST IMAGE

          Former Rollerblade VP/Marketing Mary Horwath has
     rejoined the MN-based in-line skate manufacturer to oversee
     Rollerblade's "Blade Jam" music and in-line skating promo, a
     grass-roots promotion slated to tour six cities in '98, and
     other marketing initiatives, according to Bob Geiger of the
     Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE.  Blade Jam rolls nationwide
     "during a key year for Rollerblade," which grew from $2M to
     more than $100M in annual revenues during Howarth's stint as
     VP/Marketing from '86-'93.  Horwath is seeking co-sponsors
     for the Blade Jam tour, to be held in Austin, TX; Boston,
     Cleveland, Kansas City, San Francisco and Washington/
     Baltimore.  The company is also preparing the January roll-
     out of an "all terrain" in-line product called Coyote "in
     hopes of recapturing marketing attention and sales
     momentum."  Rollerblade is "shifting its emphasis from 12-
     to-17-year-olds to the 18-to-24-year-old market that
     produced major sales" during Horwath's previous tenure, and
     the Coyote is "aimed squarely at that older cohort." 
          AD TIME: Geiger also reports that Rollerblade's
     "decreased usage" of S.F.-based ad agency Goldberg Moser
     O'Neill signals its attempt "to hire small agencies to
     create its advertising."  During '96, Rollerblade spent
     $4.026M in advertising, while January to September '97 saw
     ad spending at just $881,600 (STAR-TRIBUNE, 12/15).