Chief Marketer Staff

• Pepsi Closing Frito-Lay Plants, Hundreds of Workers Lose Jobs

  PepsiCo has reported third quarter revenue was up 6% and yet it plans to close four Frito-Lay plants and eliminate 780 positions related to the closings. The snack and beverage maker reported revenue of $7.3 billion, a 6% jump over $6.8 billion one year …

• Forstmann Little to Acquire IMG for $750 Million

  Private investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. plans to acquire sports marketing and lifestyle management firm IMG for $750 million in cash. The company is being acquired from trusts established by IMG’s founder, the late Mark McCormack, and from the …

• Agencies

  GNC Starts Sponsorship Sweepstakes

  General Nutrition Centers, Inc. has launched an essay contest that will turn three amateur athletes into GNC Pro Performance-sponsored athletes. Amateur and aspiring athletes can visit gncproperformance.com to enter to describe their endurance goal in a …

• Agencies

  Starz Scares up Trip for Four to Disney World

  In trying to scare up some viewers for its upcoming “haunted” comedy adventure, movie services provider Starz has launched a sweepstakes dangling a trip to Disney World. The sweepstakes promotes The Haunted Mansion, set to premier on television Oct. 30 …

• Agencies

  Gold’n Plump Revs Sweepstakes

  Gold’n Plump Poultry hopes to extend its peak summer selling season into fall with an on-pack sweepstakes running through November. The Cruisin’ for Gold’n Plump sweeps puts scratch-off instant-win cards on packages of fresh and frozen chicken. The …

• Pizza Boxes Deliver TBS Audio Message

  TBS Superstation is promoting its Saturday night college football programming with talking pizza boxes. The promotional boxes were distributed to independent pizzerias in the Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Cleveland, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, …

• Agencies

  Microsoft Dresses Up Mac Sweeps

  Microsoft extends its “Inner Suit” ad campaign with a sweepstakes offering Macintosh users an action figure of themselves. The Win Your Inner Suit sweeps supports Microsoft’s Office 2004 for Mac software. The sweeps (and the ads) are built on the notion …

• Drive Agency Buys LaSalle Group

  The Drive Agency has acquired LaSalle Group. Both agencies are based in St. Louis. The combined agency reports net revenues of $5 million. Drive founder Dan Curran becomes president-CEO of the combined shop, which keeps the Drive Agency name. LaSalle …

• Jets Get New VP Marketing

  The New York Jets have have named Victoria Vitarelli as the team’s director of marketing. Vitarelli comes to the Jets after having spent seven years with MasterCard International, most recently working as VP-Americas brand building. …

• News Briefs

  PIT BULL: has become the Official Energy Drink of the American Basketball Association. Pit Bull is made and marketed by Hip Hop Beverage Corp. The league said that as part of the sponsorship, the support personnel of each ABA team will be known as the …