Welcome to MakeNetCash.com - Information on Camel Cash Catalog Online

ESPN is employing the unusual combination of a blueberry festival and a loyalty contest to push viewership for its upcoming Summer X Games, slated to run as 28 hours of programming on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC during the Aug. 17-22 event in San Francisco. Faced with the reality that the extreme sports fest appeals to a 12-24 year-old demo that differs from its regular audience (the network estimates a 10% crossover), ESPN's marketers knew they needed a lot of support off its own air, where programming is normally promoted, to boost viewership.

As a result, there's more non-ESPN support than ever, with online activity at lifestyle/music sites like Bolt and Transworld and alt print vehicles. All efforts support the X Games Game, which encourages viewers to scan ads and programming itself for code numbers that accumulate as points for users registered on ESPN.com.

Around Sept. 1, the site will host an auction where points can be used to hid on items as diverse as a skateboard autographed by board champ Tony Hawk, Super Bowl tickets and a year's supply of tacos from sponsorTaco Bell, which perhaps has been mistakenly figured as one per day Other support: radio in the top 10 markets plus the host city a sponsorship of the Warped Tour; X Games "trailers" in movie theaters across the country; wild postings and POP, plus distribution of post cards in Pacific Sun stores.

"It's just our version of Camel Cash," said svp-marketing Lee Ann Daly "The only difference is that no one's applied it to programming before."

The first ABC broadcast is scheduled for Aug. 19, also the date of an annual blueberry festival in Machias, Maine, that serves as the somewhat offbeat centerpiece for the Summer X Games promo campaign from Wieden &Kennedy, N.Y.

"If you have to ask what they have in common, that's the point," explained ESPN ad director Spence Kramer. Aside from a faux version of the festival being featured in TV work from W&K, there's pies and other blueberry imagery in much of the print and online efforts supporting the seventh Summer X Games. Won't it be fascinating if an X Games type of crowd shows up in Machias (population: 1,651) on Aug. 19?

Major League Baseball is again sharing its marks with a Nascar team for a World Series-themed paint job on driver Jeremy Mayfield's No. 12 Ford Taurus. Not coincidentally MLB corporate sponsor Mobil is also principal sponsor of the car. The new design will be unveiled prior to the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis Aug. 3 and likely compete in the Oct 8 UAW-GM Quality 500 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, the Oct. 15 Winston 500 in Talladega, Ala., and the Oct. 22 Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham, N.C. Action Performance will continue as exclusive licensee for die cast; MLB Properties hopes to bring in some of its apparel licensees to support. The Mayfield deal follows an earlier pact with driver Bobby Labonte.

While the highly contested "official mattress of the NFL" designation is apparently not in the cards, Select Comfort, a high-end brand, is close to an NFL sponsorship deal. The Minneapolis-based company has used NFL players, including Minnesota Viking Cris Carter, in infomercials the past few years and has an affiliation with an athletic trainers' group that has its product in 10 NFL training camps.

Extra Innings: A few interesting value-adds from Visa's re-up of its NFL deal (Brandweek, Nov. 23, 1999): One benefit Visa sought for years is having its "NFL prefers Visa" logo on some 25 million hangtags affixed to licensed merchandise, a benefit starting later this year. Research shows that brand preference at checkout is a key factor affecting what card gets pulled out of a wallet. Other goodies: Visa exclusivity at the Super Bowl's NFL Experience fan fest and the new traveling version of the NFLX and no AmEx acceptance for purchases at NFLshop.com, or the official NFL catalog ... With 300,000 fans attending MLB games in Latin America and Japan in 1999, MLB International chief Paul Archey is eyeing another heavy schedule in Latin America next year, with Mexico and Puerto Rico added to the list. Meanwhile, an MLB All-Star squad with around 30 players will play eight games against Japanese teams in five cities Nov. 3-10. MLBI is seeking a handful of sponsors for uniform patches that will again be sold for t he Japan tour ... Former NBA exec Mike Stevens to New York City-based Notara as CMO. He was gm of eBay's sports division for the past 18 months.