Lance Armstrong has become a spokesperson for
www.KickStart.com, a site that "helps charity groups raise
funds by making a small donation every time one of their
supporters uses the site" (Chris Jenkins, USA TODAY, 2/23).
WILL IT PUSH TRAFFIC? The WALL STREET JOURNAL
INTERACTIVE's David Sweet profiles sports Web sites signing
up athletes as endorsers and questions if "famous faces
guarantee long-term success in cyberspace?" Sweet: "Though
no site will divulge figures, big stars demand hefty fees.
At least one sports-marketing expert wonders if new ventures
would be better off spending the money differently." Lanier
Sports Marketing Founder Chuck Lanier: "Say you're giving
[Michael] Jordan $250,000 ... you could probably take the
same amount of money and give it away in chunks on the site
and draw the same amount of traffic." SportsLine.com
President of Corporate & Business Development Andrew
Sturner, whose site "became the first major site to tout
celebrities," including Jordan and Tiger Woods said, "We use
them to market our site -- on billboard campaigns, banner-ad
campaigns. It's making sure we get the most out of our
partners" (WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE, 2/23).
EISNER SAYS READY, SET...GO.COM: CBS MarketWatch's Jon
Friedman reports that Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner,
speaking at the company's shareholder meeting yesterday,
said that the "key" to Disney's success on the Web "will be
its ability to distribute its 'content' as widely as
possible around the world." Eisner noted that 650,000
people logged onto its "Enhanced TV" site during last
month's Super Bowl, and 96% of those users said that they
would "uses the service again" (CBS MarketWatch, 2/23).
