Dr. Pepper/7-Up Sign Onto New ICAS Sponsorship Program

The International Council of Airshows has hinted for several months that something "Really New" was in the wind for airshow sponsorship programs. They weren't just blowing smoke. A program expected to serve as a model for a number of sponsor-dependant industries has been announced in which Dr. Pepper and 7-Up will pony up an amount confirmed to be "well into 6 figures" for a specific series of airshow program sponsorships.

Dr. Pepper/7-Up, a Fortune 500 soft drink and food processing corporation, will sponsor eleven air shows in what ICAS President, John Cudahy, calls their "Heartland" markets of western Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma – during the 2004 air show season. In addition to the five-figure benefits of activation investment by DPSU, each of the shows will receive a five-figure rights fee. The program will be managed by ADC Group, a sponsorship sales, management and fulfillment company based in Dallas, Texas.

A number of additional agreements are being sought. Cudahy calls those talks "very encouraging... we're being received very positively and no one has said 'No' out of hand. We're off to a great start..." Cudahy even hinted that this pivotal agreement may not be the only one to be seen in the 2004 season, which is about to hit high gear in a matter of weeks.

"This deal is a good example of what we think the new ICAS sponsorship program can do for the air show business and Corporate North America," says ICAS Vice President of Sponsorship Deb Mitchell. "Dr. Pepper/7-Up is making effective use of the consortium concept around which the ICAS program is being built. And eleven ICAS member shows will benefit from the participation of a national sponsor that would not have contacted any one of them individually."

The eleven shows are Defenders of Liberty Air Show, Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, LA (4/24-25); Temple Air Show; Temple, TX (5/1-2); NAS/JRB Ft. Worth/Carswell AFB Air Show, Fort Worth, TX (5/15); Little Rock AFB Air Show, Little Rock, AR (6/5-6); Aerospace America, Oklahoma City, OK (6/19-20); AirFest 2004, Fayettville, AR (6/19-20); FINA/Commemorative Air Force AirSho, Midland, TX (10/2-3); Wings over Houston, Houston, TX (10/16-17); Amigo AirSho, El Paso, TX (10/23-24); Sertoma Cajun Air Festival, Lafayette, LA (10/30-31); and Lackland AFB Air Show, San Antonio, TX (11/7).

FMI: www.airshows.org