Cover Girl Controls Universe; Sith's Darth Does the Dew.

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Author: Ebenkamp, Becky bebenkamp@brandweek.comWasserman, ToddHein, Kenneth

The Biz

COVER GIRL has been crowned as the official cosmetics sponsor of the Miss Universe pageants. The two-year deal, inked this month, will direct viewers to vote for a favorite contestant via covergirl.com.

The Procter & Gamble-owned brand is the first to receive such a designation; previously, there was no official cosmetics sponsor. It also marks the first time that viewers will be allowed to vote in the pageant, which will be televised on April 11.

It has not been determined whether the winner will appear in Cover Girl ads, though last year's champ, Amelia Vega, did. "Obviously, that's always a possibility, but we can't say at this point," said Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization in New York. Grey, New York, handles Cover Girl's advertising.

As part of the deal, 55 million FSIs featuring the Miss Universe contestants from each state will be dropped in newspapers on April 3. Cover Girl will also run ads in weekly magazines like People and InTouch alerting readers to vote at Covergirl.com. Online and POP also support.

Shugart said the viewer demographic that the pageant draws--18-35 year-old women--is a prime one for Cover Girl. "We've had other affiliations [with brands]," she said, "but they've taken the ball and really run with it."

THE FORCE WILL be with PepsiCo and 7-Eleven for the month of May as the two team up to launch the Darth Dew Slurpee.

The limited-time-only product will carry the grape Mountain Dew Pitch Black flavor. The Pitch Black soda was available for a limited-time-only last year and has since been shelved.

Agency TLP, Dallas, is still in the midst of finalizing a 15-second TV spot that centers around the Darth Dew Slurpee and its collectible miniature Darth Vader helmet. The spot will be supported with an online sweepstakes offering one lucky Dew drinker the chance to appear as a character in an upcoming LucasFilms Star Wars videogame.

"We have a long history of leveraging our world class partnership in new, innovative ways that build both the 7-Eleven and Mountain Dew brands," said Ken Krasnow, customer marketing manager at PepsiCo in Purchase, N.Y. Pepsi joins Hasbro, Cing-ular Wireless, Masterfoods, Frito-Lay, Kellogg and Burger King in providing promotional support for Star Wars III--Revenge of the Sith, opening May 19.

SEEKING THE RIGHT game can be a game in itself, and not always a fun one. So Mattel is trying to make the process easier with a new in-store and online program called GameFinder.

At retail, a GameFinder wheel will give brief descriptions of the games, as well as suggested retail prices.

Starting next month, ads for Mattel games like Seen-It and Balderdash will be tagged with a recommendation for another game (from Mattel, of course) that consumers might like if they like those games. The program refers to all Mattel games, including board and electronic games.

Mattel games will also sport icons for variables like age, number of players, time it takes to play the game and the type of game (cerebral, trivia, luck).

Phil Jackson, vp-worldwide marketing for games at Mattel, said the effort was based on research that found shopping for games confusing. "The big insight is that there are so many choices in the world of games that consumers find it difficult," he said, adding that most people base their choice on the recommendation of a friend.

PHOTO (COLOR): Vader ade: Sith Slurpee support (top); Mattel's game wheel.

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By Becky Ebenkamp; Todd Wasserman and Kenneth Hein