Prime Retail Launches Sponsorship & Marketing Partnership Program Designed to Build 'Prime Outlets' Brand
Partnership with Coca-Cola, Alliance with U.S. RealTel Continue Company's Efforts to Grow Ancillary Income
BALTIMORE, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Baltimore-based Prime Retail, Inc. (NYSE: PRT - news, PRT.PRA - news, PRT.PRB - news), the world's largest owner and operator of outlet centers, announced today that it has signed an exclusive marketing partnership agreement with Coca-Cola USA, signaling the launch of Prime Retail's new sponsorship and marketing partnership program. Prime also announced that it will form a national alliance with Chicago-based U.S. RealTel, Inc., which will allow the company to negotiate and administer all telecommunication access rights for Prime properties.
Through partnerships such as these, Prime Retail hopes to generate additional annual ancillary income. The revenue generated by the placement of Coca-Cola vending machines will go toward additional advertising and promotions designed to increase traffic and sales. The start of the sponsorship and marketing partnership program is also a cornerstone of Prime Retail's recent branding initiative, in which the company -- following its merger last summer with Horizon Group -- has renamed all 50 centers it owns under the signature, ''Prime Outlets.''
''As we build Prime Outlets into a widely recognized brand associated with quality, selection, value and fun, creating strategic alliances with brands like Coca-Cola will create superior value for our customers, our merchants and our shareholders,'' said William H. Carpenter, Jr., president and chief operating officer of Prime Retail. ''In addition to bringing added revenue, marketing partners such as Coca-Cola will tap into our growing customer base through special promotions as a way to gain exposure for their products, which in turn will provide the more than 100 million customers who shop Prime Outlets with even more value.''
''As we move forward with our sponsorship and marketing partnership programs, we are also seeking to establish relationships with other national and global companies, such as those in the lodging, entertainment, financial services, automobile and tourism industries. In doing so, we look forward to working with Coca-Cola to tap into their extensive expertise in marketing the world's best-known trademark in some 200 countries around the globe,'' said Prime Retail Executive Vice President of Operations and Marketing David G. Phillips.
''Prime Outlets centers across the country are perfect venues in which to make Coca-Cola classic, diet Coke and other Coca-Cola brands available,'' said Carla Cooper, vice president, customer marketing of Coca-Cola USA. ''Shopping is thirsty work so our goal is to have Coca-Cola offer up refreshment to the millions of visitors to Prime Outlets year-round.''
To coordinate its new sponsorship and marketing partnership program, Prime Retail has named Holly R. Laser to the position of sponsorship manager. Laser was previously in Prime Retail's public relations department and has shopping center industry experience in the areas of marketing, customer service and creating and directing special events and promotions.
The alliance with U.S. RealTel provides for an exclusive agreement to lease portions of its properties to U.S. RealTel for the purpose of constructing or installing telecommunications equipment such as cellular and PCS phone towers. U.S. RealTel will then enter into sublease agreements with telecommunications providers who will install and use the equipment. ''In addition to delivering an additional revenue stream to the company,'' Phillips said, ''U.S. RealTel will bring state-of-the-art technologies and telecommunications expertise to our properties.''
''The telecom industry views Prime Retail's portfolio of outlet centers as attractive and strategic properties for telecom providers, and we are excited to be partnering with Prime to help build our respective businesses,'' said Bud Blinick, senior vice president, site development of U.S. RealTel.
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company and is the leading producer and marketer of soft drinks. Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's best-known brand, the Company markets four of the world's top five soft drink brands, including diet Coke, Fanta, and Sprite. Through the world's largest distribution system, consumers in nearly 200 countries enjoy the Company's products at a rate of more than 1 billion servings each day.
U.S. RealTel (Nasdaq: USRT - news) is the nation's largest landlord of pre-leased telecommunication sites. Based in Chicago, U.S. RealTel has a portfolio of thousands of real estate properties throughout the United States comprising its USRT Telecom Grid™. Included in the grid are more than 60 million square feet of office space, 350 million square feet of retail shopping malls, 4.5 million square feet of industrial space, 40 million square feet of commercial strip center space and 300,000 apartment units. Using its national network of more than 6,500 properties, U.S. RealTel offers significant time and cost savings to telecom companies looking to place new antennas or gain telecom access to buildings' tenants, while providing considerable additional ancillary income to property owners, such as REITs, pension funds, property funds, developers, banks, retail and chain stores, restaurant franchises, utilities and governments. For more information, visit the U.S. RealTel website at www.usrealtel.com.
Baltimore-based Prime Retail is the world's largest developer, owner and manager of outlet centers. The company's current portfolio includes 50 outlet centers in 26 states, totaling approximately 14.4 million square feet. As of September 30, 1998, Prime Retail's factory outlet center portfolio was approximately 96% leased. The company is a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust. Additional information, including a list of all stores in its centers, is available by calling the Prime Outlets toll-free number, 1-877-GO-OUTLETS, or by visiting the company's website at www.primeoutlets.com.
Some of the information contained herein which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect management's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expected because of various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in general economic conditions, adverse changes in real estate markets as well as other risks and uncertainties included from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
