Banned Marketer Trudeau Returns With Hyped Pool Tournament

Trudeau (c) Returning To Airwaves With Pool Tournament

Marketer Kevin Trudeau, “the only man ever banned by the [FTC] from making infomercials,” will return to TV tonight when his International Pool Tour (IPT), “World 8-Ball Championship,” will be televised on FSN from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, according to Jim Edwards of BRANDWEEK. Trudeau said that he will “buy time to air the matches, rather than expect them to be covered by” cable sports nets, and he plans to use the ads to sell IPT-licensed merchandise like balls, sticks and tables, “all of which Trudeau owns.” Edwards writes the IPT “represents an interesting new development in sports marketing –- the sports broadcast as infomercial.” Trudeau is paying $15M for the effort, “which will be staged with the glamour and hype of a boxing match, rather than the hushed tones and dim lighting that currently typifies pool staging.” FTC officials will “likely watch the pool tour closely” as they “remain irked” at Trudeau, who is suing the FTC for defamation in Illinois. Trudeau once sold herbal remedies via late-night infomercials, claiming one could “cure” cancer (BRANDWEEK.com, 11/14).