Former Rollerblade VP/Marketing Mary Horwath has
rejoined the MN-based in-line skate manufacturer to oversee
Rollerblade's "Blade Jam" music and in-line skating promo, a
grass-roots promotion slated to tour six cities in '98, and
other marketing initiatives, according to Bob Geiger of the
Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Blade Jam rolls nationwide
"during a key year for Rollerblade," which grew from $2M to
more than $100M in annual revenues during Howarth's stint as
VP/Marketing from '86-'93. Horwath is seeking co-sponsors
for the Blade Jam tour, to be held in Austin, TX; Boston,
Cleveland, Kansas City, San Francisco and Washington/
Baltimore. The company is also preparing the January roll-
out of an "all terrain" in-line product called Coyote "in
hopes of recapturing marketing attention and sales
momentum." Rollerblade is "shifting its emphasis from 12-
to-17-year-olds to the 18-to-24-year-old market that
produced major sales" during Horwath's previous tenure, and
the Coyote is "aimed squarely at that older cohort."
AD TIME: Geiger also reports that Rollerblade's
"decreased usage" of S.F.-based ad agency Goldberg Moser
O'Neill signals its attempt "to hire small agencies to
create its advertising." During '96, Rollerblade spent
$4.026M in advertising, while January to September '97 saw
ad spending at just $881,600 (STAR-TRIBUNE, 12/15).
