Sharp Electronics kicked off its three-year deal as the HDTV category sponsor of Major League Baseball with a major on-site presence at the 2007 MLB All-Star Game held last week in San Francisco. The company featured MLB content on its AQUOS HD LCD TVs in three locations including a 40-foot-by-40-foot sports den (think fantasy living room for dudes) at DHL All-Star FanFest a 40-foot-by-50-foot tent in the Sponsor Zone and at three gaming stations and computer kiosks where consumers could enter the Sharp MLB Sweepstakes which launched at the event.

In a move the company is calling reverse product placement 7-Eleven has given extreme makeovers to 12 of its stores in the U.S. and Canada to make them resemble the fictional Kwik-E-Marts made popular by “The Simpsons” animated TV series. The one-month co-promotion with Twentieth Century Fox leads up to the July 27 “The Simpsons Movie” release and features limited-run products on store shelves including Squishees Buzz Cola KrustyO’s cereal and Homer’s favorite—the pink sprinkliciousdoughnut. Squishee’s come in collectible Slurpee cups with magnetic straws.

Geico this month took its recent spring break activation—which centered around a gaming zone that gave students the chance to play the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360—to Chicago where it used the same approach to target consumers in the 18-34 demographic. The company is focusing on Chicago because it recently lowered rates in Illinois.
 
The 40-foot-by-40-foot space was located on Chicago’s North Avenue Beach. Consumers could play video games and check email at Internet kiosks. Brand ambassadors handed out visors t-shirts coasters and other premiums.
 

Wrigley’s is bringing five of its chewing gum brands together under one umbrella deal that will make the company—and its brands—the category sponsor for the NBA.  As such the five brands—Big Red Doublemint Juicy Fruit Winterfresh and Wrigley’s Spearmint—will share status as the official chewing gum of the NBA.
 

At next February’s Daytona 500 Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be wearing a new set of racing stripes. Three to be exact. Earnhardt Jr. last week announced a multiyear partnership with adidas which will include a line of Dale Jr. racing footwear apparel and accessories including his own racing suit and footwear plus a line of fan footwear and apparel. Earnhardt Jr. is only the fourth athlete to have his own adidas clothing line. (David Beckham inked a deal earlier this year. Reggie Bush and Tracy McGrady also have endorsement deals.)