Marketplace Roundup
GoDaddy.com today will break its first ad with LPGAer Anna Rawson. In the spot, GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons is a genie that appears in a sand trap to grant wishes to the golfer. She gets her wish for a longer drive, which takes down a space satellite with an image of North Korea leader Kim Jong-Il. The ad is scheduled to air today on NBC during U.S. Open coverage, said a Go Daddy spokesperson (Jon Show, SportsBusiness Journal). YAHOO SPORTS' Jay Busbee wrote, "It's a decent enough start. But loosen up, Anna! You're going to tear something trying to swing while you're all stiff like that!" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/17).
PICTURE THIS: Manchester United today unveiled a five-year partnership with China-based electronics manufacturer Aigo. Under the deal, described by ManU as "'up there' with its biggest commercial deals," Aigo will make and distribute "co-branded [cameras], multimedia players and data storage devices for United globally, and mobile phone handsets in China." Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed (REUTERS, 6/18).
DRIVE FOR DOUGH: NASCAR driver Kyle Busch's agent, Jeff Dickerson, said that Busch's "merchandise sales, which jumped more than 500% when he won 21 NASCAR races last year, are showing double-digit growth" this season. Busch is among the "top five in at-track sales, and his fan club has added hundreds of members the last few weeks." Revenue at his souvenir hauler last week "reached a one-day high" at Michigan Int'l Speedway (USA TODAY, 6/18).
A DEAL IS A DEAL: Fox Business' Jenna Lee reported PGAer Vijay Singh will wear a Stanford Financial hat during the U.S. Open "as if nothing ever happened to the company." Lee: "Reports say Singh is stubborn and loyal to accused Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford of Stanford Financial. His reps say, 'Vijay is staying with the status quo until there is something more definitive regarding Stanford’” ("Fox Business Morning," Fox Business, 6/18).
HELPING HAND: The Brewers have reached a multi-year partnership with Illinois-based ATI Physical Therapy as the team's "new provider of physical therapy services." ATI Regional Dir of Operations Mike Buckholdt said that the deal allows the company to "serve as a physical therapy resource for the Brewers with future initiatives being developed over the length of the agreement" (BUSINESS JOURNAL OF MILWAUKEE, 6/12 issue).
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