ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180085
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
It was a sweet moment when the Chicago Bulls won the National Basketball Association playoff Sunday for the fourth time in six years. It was even sweeter for Eddie White, whose company made the team's victory hats and got national TV exposure for his brand.
White works for the Logo 7 division of Martinsville athletic-wear maker Tultex Corp. Watching the game on television from his home in Indianapolis, where the Logo 7 division is based, White saw the winning players put on the hats before they left the court.
So did a national TV audience of millions, all without the company spending an extra dollar on advertising.
"We couldn't have scripted a better setting for exposure for a hat, exposure for the logo," said White, general manager of team properties at Logo 7. "It worked out perfect.''
In the athletic-sportswear business, the major sports leagues sell manufacturers the right to put team insignia, player names and colors on clothing and headwear. The leagues approve some items for players and coaches to wear on or around the court or playing field. Fans often buy these "official" items more readily than other products.
For th NBA playoffs, the league gave Logo 7 the right to make and sell the official winning-team hat because of the company's 20 years in the industry and past success making and marketing well-received hats, White said.
By prior arrangement, the league also arranged for people to dash on court at the final buzzer and slap the hats on the players' heads.
Because the NBA requires manufacturers' tags on official game garb and the players were too excited to take them off, Logo 7's premium brand name, Logo Athletic, dangled prominently from the players' heads - in TV interviews and in photographs that wire services sent to newspapers.
Forward Dennis Rodman "was interviewed on [Chicago TV] WGN 11/2 hours after the game, still smoking a cigar, still wearing a hat, and it still had the tag on," White said.
Getting on national TV will help Logo 7 sell its goal of 450,000 Bulls victory hats in the next two weeks. The retail price is expected to range between $19 and $24.
A win by the Seattle Supersonics had been expected to generate only 200,000 hat sales, because of that team's lesser popularity. A number of Seattle SuperSonics victory hats, made in advance and given to the league, will be destroyed, White said.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP When Michael Jordan kisses the NBA trophy wearing aby CNBLogo 7 hat, Tultex Corp. of Martinsville can call itself a winner,
too.|