what's hot Looney tours - Looney Tunes, Marvel sports marketing programs - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, August 20, 2001

Mainstream interest in extreme sports has prompted evergreen properties to get in on the hair-raising action.

Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes "irreverent" characters Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Wile E. Coyote and Tasmanian Devil launched the "Taz Atti-Tour" in partnership with the Aggressive Skaters Association and Infogrames, Looney Tunes' interactive licensee. The event was part of the 2001 Mobile Skatepark Series last May, which featured more than 60 extreme sports big shots, most notably Tony Hawk.

Looney Tunes have also caught the Nascar bug. Characters adorn the cars of drivers such as Jeff Cordon and Terry Labonte as part of a Warner Bros. and Chevrolet national sweepstakes promotion, "The Monte Carlo Looney Tunes Challenge," which culminates Sept. 9 in Richmond, Va. The grand prize is a 2002 Chevy Monte Carlo High Sport ss.

Marvel Enterprises' Spider-Man will soon trade his web-enabled climbing for a roaring Dodge Intrepid R/T stock car. As part of a four-way partnership between Action Performance, Evernham Motorsports, Dodge Motorsports and Marvel, Dodge drivers Bill Elliott and Casey Atwood will debut their Spider-Man decorated cars at the Oct. 7 Nascar race at Lowe's Motor Speedway

Fellow teammate Dean Skuza will then take Spidey to the inaugural AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals on Oct. 25. Spidey and driver Mark Kinser will wrap the tour up Nov. 2 and 3 at the World of Outlaws Season Finale in Las Vegas. To promote this special program, Action Performance will rollout a complete line of collectible merchandise, including exclusive replicas of the Spider-Man program race vehicles. Woody Woodpecker has also flown into foray as team mascot for Honda Motorcross/Supercross. Woody-adorned apparel and headwear based on the Honda Racing Team are part of the licensing agreement Universal Studios Consumer Products Group and Honda Racing have signed with Dynasty Apparel Industries and H3 Sportgear. The two new lines of apparel will be showcased at the end of this month at MAGIC.