MAGIC GOES "FULL CIRCLE": Magic Johnson's marketing
comeback was examined by Pat O'Brien on "Access Hollywood."
With "The Magic Hour" and commercials for AmEx and Coors,
Johnson "has revitalized his career" as a TV pitchman.
Johnson, on losing endorsements after going public with HIV:
"We were in disbelief that it actually did happen, and
happened so quickly -- because those companies, I was with
most of them for 12 years, 10 years." O'Brien reports that
while Johnson "says he's turned down several endorsements
that weren't right for him. Still, when opportunity knocks,
he'll be there to answer the door." Johnson: "I'm more
popular now than I was then by millions of miles. It just
came back full circle" ("Access Hollywood," 4/27).
BRANDWEEK NOTES: BRANDWEEK's Terry Lefton reports that
Players Inc plans to open its second Players Grill
restaurant in Manhattan next year. Its first location opens
in Orlando in June. Players Inc also signed Sony to a two-
year title sponsorship of its Players Party during Super
Bowl week....USA Track & Field, which had been repped by CT-
based Millsport, is now being handled by Advantage/API.
.....McDonald's has signed Mexican-born Horacio Llamas of
the Suns to a four-year deal for the Phoenix area. The
contract includes TV and radio (BRANDWEEK, 5/25 issue).
YOU SAY POTATO....: In Indianapolis, Bill Koenig
reports that the "biggest corporate winner" at the Indy 500
was MN-based Rachel's Potato Chips, who just recently signed
to sponsor winning driver Eddie Cheever. Rachel's Potato
Chips are sold in only 12 states (SPEEDNET, 5/28). In
Philadelphia, Marcia Smith examines corporate sponsorship of
NASCAR and writes, "Today's NASCAR victory scene is all
about corporate customs -- of drivers wearing sponsors'
patches, singing sponsors' names and racing cars covered in
the brands of everything anyone can buy. It's part
celebration, part aw-shucks thanks, and increasingly, part
commercial" (Marcia Smith, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/29).
OTHER NOTES: Callaway's stock has "plunged" 21% on the
NYSE on news the USGA is considering banning high-tech clubs
(WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/28). In Chicago, Greg Couch writes
that the debate over club technology "will be won by
Callaway ... not because of who's right but because ...
[w]hoever has the most money wins." Couch: "Technology has
poisoned the blood of golf, tennis, bowling, even table
tennis. But while further advancements can be limited, the
existing poison will be there forever" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES,
5/28)....France's Havas Advertising has acquired Lifestyle
Marketing Group, an agency specializing in sports and
entertainment sponsorships with clients including Hewlett-
Packard, L'Oreal and Peugeot (AD AGE, 5/26).
