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