Extreme sports lifts awareness

<p>Sponsoring extreme sports events can pay off handsome dividends, </p><p>ESPN Star Sports has said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It underlined the point by highlighting the X Games last August in San </p><p>Francisco, which helped sponsors drive their brand awareness higher. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>More than 300,000 people attended that event; and research by Keleman </p><p>Associates and TNS Intersearch found that post-sponshorship awareness of </p><p>the brands involved were between 80 and 90 per cent. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mountain Dew, for instance, had a brand awareness of 98 per cent, </p><p>followed by Taco Bell at 90 per cent. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The others included US Marine's (87 per cent), Adidas (85 per cent) and </p><p>Motorola (83 per cent). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>ESPN is currently gearing up for the 2000 Asian X Games Qualifier and </p><p>Disney Channel/ESPN Junior X Games II, which kicks off on December </p><p>3. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Patong Beach, Phuket Island, is the venue for the X Games. The site </p><p>comprises towering climbing walls, and courses for skateboarding, </p><p>bicycle stunts, inline skating and other extreme sports. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The 2000 Asian X Games Qualifier and Disney Channel/ ESPN Junior X Games </p><p>II are presented by Toyota and supported by Toshiba, Adidas, Salomon, </p><p>the Disney Channel and Nivea. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>