Volume 2, No. 23. December 13, 2002
Rose
to the occasion
Parades have proven effective marketing tools, and next to Macy’s Thanksgiving
Day Parade, no march has a greater following than the Tournament of Roses Parade
on New Years Day in Pasadena, California. Theme parks have taken advantage of
the exposure by entering floats in the past, and this year the industry’s
official charity, Give Kids The World, will float down Colorado Boulevard before
a million people along the parade route and the home audiences of three television
networks.
This year’s Rose parade was ideally suited for Give Kids The World because
of the parade’s 2003 theme: “Children’s Dreams, Wishes and Imagination.”
Tide (by Procter & Gamble) is the float’s presenting sponsor, covering
the cost of the float, designed by Fiesta Parade Floats, that will emulate in
80,000 roses the whimsical buildings along the Avenue of Angels in Give Kids
The World Village in Kissimmee, Florida. Riding the float will be GKTW President
Pamela Landwirth and founder Henri Landwirth, four children who have been guests
at the village, and Mayor Clayton, the village’s six-foot (1.8-meter) rabbit
mascot, plus a celebrity to be announced.
The float’s most significant element will be invisible to public view,
however: 56,000 of the Aqua Piks that hold roses on the float bear the signatures
of children who have visited the village this year.
With
a $6 donation,
you can help fund the float and receive an official GKTW Tournament of Roses
lapel pin, which can be ordered through the village’s web site, www.gktw.org.
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
All rights reserved