BRANDWEEK NOTES: ESPN starts shooting its latest
"SportsCenter" ads from Wieden & Kennedy this week. The ads
break in September and will star Kerri Strug and Dan O'Brien,
among others....The Marketing Arm, Dallas, and Millsport,
Stamford, CT, have been retained for marketing and PR by the
Nokia Sugar Bowl....John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance will title
sponsor the nationwide 30-city Tour of World Gymnastics Champions
where Olympic gymnasts Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu and
Kerri Strug will be featured (BRANDWEEK, 8/19 issue)....The North
Texas Toyota Dealers Association yesterday sued Cowboys WR
Michael Irvin for around $1.4M in damages, alleging he
misrepresented himself as a moral person when he signed an
endorsement contract on February 12. The group also wants Irvin
to return a '96 Toyota Land Cruiser furnished to him under terms
of the contract. A hearing is scheduled for today (AP/FT. WORTH
STAR TELEGRAM, 8/21). ESPN's Keith Olbermann notes with a
violation of deceptive trade law, a jury could treble the
damages. Olbermann: "That'll be $4,200,000 please. Toyota, I
love what you do for me" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 8/20). ....NASCAR
ran an 11-page advertising supplement in today's WASHINGTON POST
entitled "NASCAR 1996 Mid-Atlantic Fall Racing Preview"
(WASHINGTON POST, 8/21).
