Photo: Skippy/Pedigree Skippy peanut butter and Pedigree dog food are FLW Outdoors' two newest sponsors.

Two More
Skippy And Pedigree On As FLW Sponsors

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Skippy peanut butter and Pedigree dog food are now part of the FLW Outdoors sponsor stable. They are the sixth and seventh new sponsors FLW has announced since the end of the 2002 FLW Tour season.

'Spreading the Fun of Fishing'

"Skippy Peanut Butter will help spread the fun of fishing to the masses," FLW stated. "With more than 75 percent of American families purchasing peanut butter last year, Skippy knows the value of a family-friendly product." And the nation's 55 million anglers "equates to a large, loyal consumer base that Skippy can reach through its partnership with FLW Outdoors."

"This is an exciting year for Skippy with our new Squeeze products created especially for kids and their active families," said Patricia Zenobi, senior brand manager for Skippy. "We believe our sponsorship of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour provides the perfect vehicle for reaching our core consumers: families and kids."

"The first thing that springs to mind when hearing 'Skippy' is children," said FLW Outdoors CEO Charlie Hoover. "One of FLW Outdoors' objectives is to introduce the next generation of anglers to the sport (so) we look forward to working with Skippy to reach this goal, and to help market its products to the upcoming group of anglers."

Next season Skippy will sponsor a professional angler (not yet named) who will compete in a NASCAR-like Ranger boat displaying Skippy's logo.

Pedigree In, ALPO Out

Pedigree, the world's No. 1 dog food brand, also will be a new sponsor of the FLW Tour next year. "Our partnership with FLW Outdoors will enable us to reach millions of sportsmen and their families, many of whom are pet owners," said Alice Nathanson of Pedigree. "It will be a great marketing tool for us."

"Anglers are very passionate about their sport and have shown loyalty to our corporate sponsors who promote fishing," Hoover said. "We are enthused to help Pedigree reach this large, loyal audience."

Pedigree's arrival means ALPO is out of FLW Outdoors as of 2003. At this point, the sponsorship fate of the ALPO team members -- Dwayne Horton, Elton Luce Jr., Tony Couch Shane Allman and Bob Beatty -- is up in the air, FLW said.

Notable

> For those keeping score: FLW Outdoors now has more than 30 sponsors (not including associate sponsors), most of which are non-endemic, meaning non-fishing/boating. B.A.S.S. has 15. More new sponsor announcements are rumored to be coming from both leagues.