News: 1998-07.17-Credit


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From: "John Galt Productions" 
To: jgp@wonderland.com
Subject: [JGP] ChuckleNews: Get credit at the Faire!
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 09:47:07 PDT
Precedence: list
Status: R

Hmmm...this might be pretty good business, considering how many of us have run up those cards. I just wonder what sort of deal REC gets -- how much of that debt load servicing REC sees. Hopefully a LOT. 'Cause they need it.

SNIP

Friday July 17, 10:30 am Eastern Time

Company Press Release

SOURCE: Renaissance Entertainment Corporation

Renaissance Entertainment Signs Agreement With First USA Bank

BOULDER, Colo., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Renaissance Entertainment Corporation (Nasdaq: FAIR - news) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with First USA Bank to create a Renaissance Faire credit card, developed for current and potential faire enthusiasts across the country. The no-annual fee Renaissance Faire Visa card will feature merchandise and admission related discounts, plus a low introductory APR. REC and First USA will have exclusive access to market the cards to the Company's customers. In return, the Company will receive a fee for each application accepted, as well as a percentage of the net retail sales posted each account, in addition to other royalties.

Charles S. Leavell, Chairman and CEO, stated that ``REC's agreement with First USA provides us with unique product development and marketing opportunities. It also validates the success of REC's Renaissance faires, and the popularity of the renaissance faire industry in general. We are very pleased with this partnership.''

Scheduled to coincide with REC's Bristol, Northern California, and New York Renaissance Faires, the credit card offer will be launched July 25, 1998. Donald Gaiti, Executive Director of New Ventures for REC, commented that ``this first-ever Renaissance Faire credit card will be marketed to the entire industry, giving cardholders an opportunity to extend their connection with Renaissance Faires all year long. REC will lead the way in exploiting this entire market sector.'' The program will offer a variety of generic and site- specific design cards, a discount program for faire admissions, gifts from the Renaissance Collection shops, complimentary membership to the Royal Knight Club and its newsletter, as well as access to REC events and promotions. Card designs may be viewed at www.renfair.com/visa.

First USA, a subsidiary of BANC ONE CORPORATION, is a leader in the co-brand and affinity credit card marketplace, issuing credit cards for leading companies and organizations, including America Online, the American Kennel Club, the Florida Marlins, Holiday Hospitality Corp., the PGA TOUR, Southwest Airlines, the Special Olympics, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Renaissance Entertainment Corporation is the only publicly traded company in the Renaissance Faire industry. The company's Faires currently serve five of the largest metro areas in the country including New York, Chicago/Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the greater Washington, D.C./Richmond area.

The Renaissance Faire is an outdoor family entertainment event which romanticizes the ambiance of a Renaissance era marketplace and includes craft shops, period food, dancers, jousters, musicians and historical characters from Elizabethan England.