When the USPS signed on to title sponsor the cycling
team featuring Lance Armstrong, it "hoped to grab
international business away from competitors who operate
overseas," according to Greg Winter of the N.Y. TIMES, who
wrote the team's success "has also been a point of pride at
the post office, a place historically short on morale."
USPS Senior VP/Sales Gail Sonnenberg said that the Tour de
France gives the USPS access to other sponsors like Nike,
Visa and Bike.com, as last year, "relationships with
sponsors brought" the USPS $10M, "more than offsetting" the
cost of the sponsorship. Sonnenberg: "Like any other
sponsorship, it's about building our brand. This is not
something we do because it feels good" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/23).
WILL WIN BOOST BIKE SALES? In DC, Anne Swardson writes,
"In part because of his near-miraculous recovery from cancer
three years ago and his determined return to cycling,
Armstrong has helped restore credibility to a sport that was
badly tainted by drug scandals in the 1998 Tour" (WASHINGTON
POST, 7/24). USA TODAY's Gary Strauss writes that despite
Armstrong's victory, bicycle marketers "face an uphill
climb," as U.S. sales of bicycles and accessories have been
"relatively flat" at $5.2-5.6B since '95. But Armstrong's
win "likely will have its biggest impact" on Trek, which
Armstrong endorses. Trek "boosted sales of road bikes"
about 40% from June '99 to last month, and "most gains came
after" Armstrong's Tour victory last year (USA TODAY, 7/24).
SURVIVORS: In Dallas, Andrew Hood reported that
Armstrong was to meet yesterday with the nine cancer
survivors that his sponsor Bristol-Myers Squibb brought to
the Tour de France "instead of a handful of VIPs" (DALLAS
MORNING NEWS, 7/22). On "NBC Nightly News," Kiko Itasaka
reported, "Armstrong uses his celebrity status to help raise
cancer awareness, [and] immediately after [the] race, he
headed for a cancer charity event" (NBC, 7/23). In Houston,
Scott Kaiser reported that in less than three years, the
Armstrong Foundation has awarded between $750,000-1M in
grants for cancer research and programs. Foundation Exec
Dir Karl Haussmann: "As a result of the Tour victory last
year, it would be hard to say how much more money we've been
able to raise this year and how much more we'll be able to
give away, but we're estimating that we'll give away
$500,000 in research-grant money" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/22).
