In 2005, a late but most welcome addition to the X Prize partnership plans to up the stakes in its space campaign. 7 UP stepped up in the waning days of the competition to supply much-needed operating funds for the X Prize Foundation to host its space race.

Upon conclusion of the winning ship's successful flights, 7 UP was poised to make an even bigger plunge.

With SpaceShipOne builder Burt Rutan committed to designing a commercial version of the vessel for startup spaceliner Virgin Galactic, 7 UP announced a promotion that would send consumers to space.

Details of the sweepstakes are under development, but the gist of the pitch is this: 7 UP plans to acquire seats aboard one of the first passenger-carrying suborbital ships to space.

At 7 UP, we want to make space travel a reality for everyone, not just for millionaires, Randy Gier, executive vice president of 7 Up's parent company, Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages of Plano, Texas, said in the sweepstakes announcement.

That was a sweet moment for New York marketing guru Jay Coleman, president of Entertainment Marketing Communications International, or EMCI, which held exclusive rights for X Prize corporate sponsorships.

Coleman, a space buff since childhood, has been masterminding music marketing campaigns and sponsorships since 1981. He paired Jovan Fragrance with The Rolling Stones and Pepsi's Choice of a New Generation campaign with Michael Jackson.

He arranged the multi-sponsored rock benefit Live Aid in 1985 and founded the Nintendo World Championships tour.

When the Russian space program began scrounging for outside capital to pay for its programs, Coleman stepped in during 1996 to broker a deal between Pepsi and Russian space companies to float a giant inflatable Pepsi can outside the Mir space station and film it for a television commercial.

Four years later, Coleman parlayed his space connections into an ad campaign for Pizza Hut that featured a 30-foot-tall company logo plastered to an unmanned Russian Proton rocket.

Space has always been a difficult sell. It's unproven and most companies are risk-aversive, Coleman said in an interview with United Press International.

But for an advertiser, space is totally uncluttered. If you come in and you sponsor sports, you're one of thousands of companies. If you get to be involved in space, you're on the cutting edge of what I believe is really going to be a big, big platform over the next 20 years.

In partnership with X Prize founder Peter Diamandis, Coleman spent years pitching space race sponsorships to corporations throughout the world. We went everywhere, Coleman said.

Nine times out of 10, the duo were turned down before they could deliver their pitch.

People would say, 'No, that's not for us,' or 'It's too risky,' or 'We don't understand that,' Coleman said.

When company executives agreed to listen to what Coleman and Diamandis had to say, they were impressed, but upon later reflection the vast majority decided not to risk affiliation with an event that might cause someone's death.

The fact of the matter is, it's risky, Coleman said, but that is what makes it interesting. There is a big 'Wow' factor here. If it was about someone driving to buy a bottle of milk, that wouldn't be a big deal.

The element of risk is one of the main attractions of other events, which have in the past and continue to attract lucrative corporate sponsorships.

Companies put their names on race cars and look how many people die in race car accidents, Coleman said. No one blames the sponsor just because their name is on it.

People perceive space differently, Coleman acknowledged.

When you look at the two shuttle disasters and you think about an astronaut going up into space and that sucker blowing up and this guy not obviously having a chance in hell, I think people see that as being bigger than life, he said.

Companies felt worried about sponsoring something that a person was doing for this $10 million competition."

Coleman never gave up and finally landed Champ Car as a major X Prize sponsor, before 7 Up signed up the month before Mojave Aerospace Ventures began its two-flight bid for the X Prize.

The purpose of the competition was to demonstrate that private entities, without assistance or backing from the government, could build a ship and fly people to space.

As perceptions shift, Coleman expects corporate mentalities to expand as well. He and Diamandis already are in the hunt for sponsors for a follow-on X Prize program, the X Prize Cup, which is planned as an annual exhibition for the suborbital launch industry.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2004 by United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of by United Press International.

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