Newswire

Brandweek, April 10, 2000

Eastern Foods, Atlanta, Ga., this month bows its new Classic Caesar dressing, with more cheese and anchovies, and Bacon Honey Mustard; FSIs, coupons and onpack recipe booklets support [ldots] Blockbuster begins renting Sega Dreamcast videogame software nationwide this week following test in 500 stores; 45-50 titles will be available [ldots] Marvel Enterprises aligns with TrimFast Group for Spider-Man Children's Chewable Multi-Vitamin Supplements, set to hit health food stores, mass merchants, drug, grocery and pharmacy shelves in summer [ldots] Odyssey cable TV network joins with Kaiser Family Foundation for 750,000 parental info guides about the V-Chip to be distributed at 600 Circuit City stores; Kermit the Frog will be prominent in the guide, and in Odyssey's on-air public service announcements, set to run through summer [ldots] Mattel, trying to stem losses, put troubled Learning Co.

up for sale; analysts say the educational software maker might bring as little as $200 million, only about 5% of what Matte l paid for the company [ldots] PERSONNEL: A key member of General Motors' e-commerce team has parked his auto job and jumped to a similar post at appliance maker Whirlpool, Benton Harbor, Mich. Reuben E. Slone joined Whirlpool as vp of Global e-Business [ldots] ASSIGNMENTS: No Nonsense, Greensboro, N.C., retained McKinney & Silver, Raleigh, N.C., as creative agency after a four-month review. New ads will debut in 2001 and be backed by a targeted, multimillion-dollar campaign. Initiative Media, Atlanta, will handle buying [ldots] Banfi Vintners, Old Brookville, N.Y., to A Team, N.Y., for promos on its restaging Riunite and other brands, succeeding Deutsch, N.Y., following an amicable separation [ldots] TLP, Dallas, gets promotional accounts for American Airlines and Fetzer Vineyards, with combined billings of more than $12 million.