
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990                   TAG: 9006010273
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SUMMIT AN `AD-VANTAGE' FOR SELLERS

Along with the receiving lines and press briefings associated with meetings of U.S and Soviet leaders, summit-related advertising has also become a mainstay of such high-profile events.

This week's superpower summit between Presidents Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev triggered what has become a familiar rush of ads. The advertisers range from vodka distillers to sellers of household linens out to capture some of the attention that surrounds these meetings.

During Gorbachev's meeting with President Reagan in December 1987, Parker Pens USA ran $500,000 worth of full-page ads touting the fact that the two leaders used the company's pens to sign a treaty aimed at eliminating intermediate-range nuclear weapons. The ads were topped with the headline, "The pen is mightier than the sword."

"The ads probably help the [product's] visibility, and there is certainly publicity value about it," said Lisa Kovitz, a Stolichnaya vodka spokeswoman.

But even such short-lived ad campaigns can influence sales. After Stolichnaya ads ran during the December 1987 summit, the company's sales jumped 41 percent that month, Kovitz said.

Many ad executives have questioned the long-term value of such ads.

The critics, however, have not stopped companies from spending a lot of money associating themselves with summits.

by CNB