By Deborah L. Cohen

CHICAGO (Reuters.com) - The price tag for a promotional boost from a blockbuster event like the Beijing Olympics is too lofty for small businesses, but some have found a way to make big events work.

Excerpt

Austin, Texas-based Human Performance Labs went with an outlay of promotional dollars to make a big splash right out of the starting block.

The maker of the PureSport performance sports drink decided to secure endorsements from celebrity athletes such as U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps - now a gold medal record breaker - ahead of its product launch in November 2007.

The company, which has capital from a private equity partner, inked exclusive deals with Phelps and fellow U.S. national team swimmers Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker and Brendan Hansen, so it could track their performance during training and weave the results into its product story.

"It was very calculated," says Michael Humphrey, the company's chief executive and a former vice president for Simon & Schuster who has been involved in several start-ups. "If we could own swimming and a few of these niche sports, we'd have a real opportunity."

The company signed an additional endorsement with celebrity gymnast Nastia Liukin shortly before the Games began. Aside from the sizeable investment in endorsements - PureSport, whose drinks are prepared by mixing powder with water - says it has done little else in the way of marketing.

Humphrey, whose company has less than 10 full-time employees and subcontracts manufacturing, said he's received various inquiries from other retailers and distributors. "It is definitely without question translating to retail opportunities," he says of the Olympics investment.

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