Strategic and affinity marketing relationships are standard operating procedure today. They were almost unheard of when we developed one of the very first: a union between pet food giant Kal Kan and the American Animal Hospital Association, the nation's largest association of companion animal veterinarians. Kal Kan funded a series of AAHA public service announcements. It was AAHA's first venture into television, and Kal Kan's most successful appeal to this key product purchase-initiating audience. (Pet owners buy what the vet recommends!)

Corporate-sponsored sports events and stadiums are run-of-the-mill these days. But until Jim Beam Distillers changed the name of the former Spiral Stakes pre-Derby horse race to the Jim Beam Stakes, media would routinely avoid mentioning the corporate sponsor. Once Worldscan's CEO took over media relations, even the choleric New York Times gave in and referred to the Jim Beam Stakes by its new name.

Steven Webster coined the term guerrilla marketing with his savvy and successful launch program for McKids, a childrens' clothing joint venture between McDonald's and Sears. The stand-alone stores were sited in -- well, yuppieland: higher-income, younger, urban areas. Rather than waste his client's budget on high-cost newspaper and TV, he negotiated contracts to drape McKids Store banners from streetlights on the blocks surrounding stores. Coupled with other "guerrilla" tactics, the store launches were huge -- and inexpensive -- successes.

The ne plus ultra of event marketing took place during the years-long rollout of Brand Central, the former Sears appliance department. When Sears decided to push home electronics and brand names, we created a true marvel to prove that Sears now meant much more than appliances: a 16-ton truck equipped with stadium seating, a monster sound system, and a four-color laser that projected a custom Brand Central light show. Brand Central Laser One performed hundreds of shows at dozens of cities. With each performance, Brand Central set a new store sales record. Brand Central remains the largest home appliance/home electronics seller in the US.Laser One still tours for other clients.

We reintroduced syndicated sports radio programming with the hugely successful "Consort Sports Report with Gary Fencik." The Chicago Bear safety's show revitalized a tried-and-true concept: the sponsored broadcast program. Alberto-Culver's show (Consort is Culver's men's grooming products line) was made possible by changes in FCC commercial rules, which Worldscan staff successfully exploited.

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