Marketplace Round-Up

Rally Monkey Flying Off Shelves

Outgoing AEG Merchandising VP Alan Fey said that sales of apparel and other Angels gear increased 400% in the postseason thus far. Fey added of sales of stuffed Rally Monkeys, “Our monkey business is through the roof” (Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM, 10/12).

SECOND HELPING: The NHL during ABC’s “Lost” last night broke its newest ad, titled “It Begins,” the second in a series of five spots under the “My NHL” campaign. The 30-second ad, via L.A.-based Conductor, shows for the first time the enemy of the “Warrior” character introduced in the first spot (NHL). In Chicago, Lewis Lazare reviews the ad, giving it a “C+,” and writes it “dangerously overplays the drama card. Consequently, the commercial seems more than a little dishonest” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/13).

NOTES: In Boston, gossip columnists Fee & Raposa report Boston Casting is searching for “big, strapping ex-pigskin players 30-40 years old” to appear in a Wheaties TV ad (BOSTON HERALD, 10/13)....In Atlanta, Sekou Smith notes while TV and radio ads for Wednesday’s Hawks-Bobcats game in Birmingham “billed [it] as a showcase between the reigning NBA slam-dunk champ [Hawks F Josh Smith] and the past two Final Four MVPs,” Bobcats Fs Emeka Okafor and Sean May, “none of them played” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/13).