BUICK LESABRE PROMOTION OFFERS GOLF COURSE AS PRIZE

DETROIT -- Problems with your golf game? Maybe it would help to change the layout of the course. Or chain-saw the tree that's interfering with your shot from the rough. Or even drain the water hazard.

All of those things would be possible if you just owned the course - and now you CAN if you win the grand prize in a new Buick LeSabre promotion. It's not easy, but it's possible.

The golf-themed promotion, named "LeSabre Winning Drives Sweepstakes," runs from May 17 through June 30 and features Buick touring professional and 1999 Ryder Cup Team Captain Ben Crenshaw. In an insert placed in a number of mass-market and golf enthusiast publications, Crenshaw discusses how to achieve the "perfect drive." He compares attributes of the perfect drive in golf - including reliability and consistency - to the "perfect drive" of the 2000-model-year Buick LeSabre.

The insert also contains a "scorecard" that readers can take to their local Buick dealers and compare to a display showing Crenshaw's scorecard. If the scores match, the consumer wins one of a variety of golf-related prizes. Like all new Buick promotions, game pieces (scorecards) are also available on the Internet at www.LeSabre.com.

Every scorecard is a winner. But if you want the golf course, the key is to be one of the five grand prize winners, each of whom receives a trip for two to the 1999 Buick Open in August in Grand Blanc, Mich. Not only will they watch the tournament, but they will shoot for a hole-in-one at the Buick Open's course, Warwick Hills.

If one of the finalists actually shoots a hole-in-one, he or she wins an 18-hole golf course and a new 2000 Buick LeSabre.

The five participants have reason to be accurate even if they don't get an ace: if a hole-in-one is not made, the participant whose ball stops closest to the hole wins the 2000 Buick LeSabre.

Other prizes in the promotion include golf clubs, Buick/Ben Crenshaw golf hats and sleeves of golf balls.

"Both Buick LeSabre and golf are about control, comfort and reliability with the best equipment," said LeSabre Brand Manager Joseph J. Fitzsimmons. "This unique promotion will definitely help create a lot of excitement and present our new LeSabre to the public with maximum impact."

The promotion will be supported by national television, print, direct mail and Internet communications. The television ad supporting the promotion is titled "Chain Saw." It features a golfer ignoring the advice of Crenshaw on a variety of shots and instead -- since he owns it -- changing the course dramatically.

At the same time, LeSabre is launching new television and print campaigns. The television spots focus on LeSabre's features (side air bags for front seats) by showing family metaphors (two parents kissing a baby's cheeks).

2000 LeSabre LeSabre, America's best-selling full-size sedan for the past seven years, has posted more than one million sales in the past eight years. The 2000 LeSabre features the roomy comfort of a six-passenger premium sedan, smooth power provided by a 3.8-liter 3800 Series II V-6 engine, a stronger body structure and classic styling.