YO, ROCKEY! BROOKS SHOE CHAIR TALKS UP BIG PLANS IN FORBES

          WA-based running-shoe company Brooks Sports is profiled
     by Leigh Gallagher of FORBES, who writes that the company
     has a "very different marketing pitch that dispenses with
     the celebrities and zeroes in on serious runners."  Instead
     of using celebrity endorsers, Brooks "enlists a fleet of 200
     competing runners who get free shoes but no money."  Brooks
     President & CEO Helen Rockey, who came to the company five
     years ago after 11 years with Nike: "Nike's in the
     entertainment business.  We're in the running business." 
     The company "spends a tiny" $750,000 on advertising a year,
     "mostly in niche publications," but has seen sales growth of
     30% over the past four years.  Sales "should hit" $100M by
     next year, and orders this year are up 34%, with those from
     specialty running shops up 84% (FORBES, 2/22 issue).