GOLF: Titleist takes out a full-page ad in USA TODAY
congratulating U.S. Open winner Payne Stewart. The ad
reads: "#1 At Golf's Toughest Test. Stewart And Titleist.
Victorious At 1999 U.S. Open" (THE DAILY)....Tiger Woods
said he needed only four takes to film the new Nike ad in
which he bounces a golf ball repeatedly off a club face for
30 seconds and then hits it in mid air (WASHINGTON POST,
6/21)....In Pittsburgh, Gery Dulac writes that merchandise
sales at this year's U.S. Open in Pinehurst (NC) "will
easily surpass" the roughly $5M done in previous years. One
cashier at the Open said that sales were reaching $500,000
during a "good hour" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/21).
OTHER NOTES: Flip The Switch (FTS) apparel designer
Full Tilt Sports signed heavyweight boxing contender Michael
Grant to wear FTS apparel and logos during his next four
fights, beginning with Grant's victory on Saturday against
Lou Savarese at MSG (FTS)....The "Vent" column in Sunday's
ATLANTA CONSTITUTION asked: "How does NASCAR justify
advertising for beer? Do they advocate drinking and
driving?" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 6/20)....CBS MarketWatch's
John Thorsberg examined the marketing appeal of Jeff Gordon
and wrote that his "target audience is young people."
Gordon's business manager Bob Brannan: "Right now, we have
really been working to develop a stronger children's line of
products that also bear trademarks of Jeff and his race
team. Jeff is young, the demographic skew is to the youth,
who are his future fans" (CBS MarketWatch, 6/19)....In
Chicago, Patrick Cole profiled the growth of apparel company
FUBU, which has "made the transition from a niche brand
aimed primarily at African-American urban youth to a
mainstream label whose logo these days can be spotted just
as easily in suburban malls as on city streets." The NBA
signed FUBU to design a line of warm-up suits, vests,
jerseys and shorts for all teams in a deal that "could add"
up to $25M to FUBU's '99 revenues (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/20).
