Sean "Puffy" Combs is said to be close to a deal with
Puma for a clothing line (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/17)....Labatt
will sponsor the OHL Mississauga IceDogs and has won pouring
rights at the team's new facility, the $20M Hershey Center.
The pouring rights deal is for $1.6M over five years (AD
AGE, 11/17)....SI's "Scorecard" says "we're going to miss"
Nike's "Start the Season. Hurry" ads. Of Nike's use of the
NBA tag, "It's Fantastic," "Scorecard" writes, "So are the
ads" (SI, 11/23)....The Abbey restaurant in Seal Beach, CA,
-- which was frequently promoted by Mark McGwire during his
HR chase -- opened at the end of July and has recorded
$600,000 in sales so far this year, divided "almost evenly"
between food and merchandise. Food sales alone are "on
track" to surpass $1M for the first year. The Abbey has
sold "about" 25,000 hats similar to the ones donned by
McGwire during the season and is offering the hats on the
restaurant's Web site at http://www.theabbey.net.
Restaurant owners had expected to do about $600,000 in total
sales in its first year (Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM,
11/16)....adidas and Reebok will run paid ads in the initial
issue of Real Sports magazine, the women's sports magazine
debuting in early December. Seven other companies have
already committed to ad buys in the title (Real Sports).
...TIME magazine notes actor Woody Harrelson's support of
the Headwaters Hiker, the first in a line of "environment-
friendly footwear" made from hemp (TIME, 11/23 issue)....A
16-page special ad insert on behalf of the U.S. Ski team
runs in the current NEWSWEEK. Advertisers include Sprint,
Chevrolet, United Air and Charles Schwab (NEWSWEEK, 11/23).
