Coca-Cola's municipal sponsorship of Huntington Beach,
CA, is examined by Martin Kasindorf of USA TODAY.
Huntington Beach sports marketing exec Don Schulte said that
"there's no end to the potential" for similar deals with
other companies. Schulte: "We can put beach parking
attendants in Nike uniforms" (USA TODAY, 2/25)....TX-based
furniture dealer Jim McIngvale, who will sponsor the
$750,000 Gallery Furniture.com Stakes on March 27 at Turfway
Park in OH, was at the track Tuesday where he "doled out
free trips to track workers, asked them for their wildest
marketing ideas and promised the media an advertising blitz
he hopes" will draw a record crowd to the event. McIngvale:
"If there's anything I know, it's retailing and marketing.
I want fans to leave this race energized about furniture and
horse racing" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 2/24)....Outgoing LPGA
Tour Commissioner Jim Ritts, on the tour's Nashville stop in
May, which lost Sara Lee as a sponsor: "It's so popular, and
there are so many businesses headquartered in Nashville that
I believe it will return with a new sponsor" (USA TODAY,
2/25)....Hart Skis, a division of MN-based United Sports
Group, formed an alliance with Palmer Snowboards, in which
the companies will share resources and develop synergistic
marketing, distribution, warehousing and administrative
operations. The U.S. operations of both companies will be
based in Minneapolis (Hart).
