Editor's note: The following appeared on O'Dwyer's PR Daily, at http://www.odwyerpr.com/

BIG HITS: One of the fastest-selling souvenirs at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics is a snap-on earmuff, called Earbags.

The start-up New York company, called Earbags of Sweden, which had a shoestring marketing budget, hired Jeff Blumenfeld, who owns a PR firm in Rowayton, Conn., which has paid off in a big way with a story about Earbags in The Wall Street Journal's Feb. 20 edition.

Blumenfeld also advised his client to stand in front of the Today Show studio window in Park City. Katie Couric, a co- host, fell for the pitch. She wore the Earbags while doing the show on Feb. 19.

Another successful ploy used by Blumenfeld was to get the student-run Utah St. Univ. PR agency, called Com USU, to adopt Earbags as a class project.

The students have created press kits, canvassed Utah media with information, handed out samples to spectators, and pitched the product in the Anheuser-Busch tent downtown.

"It proves that small agencies can get big placements," said Blumenfeld."

For a picture of the USU's student Earbag team and Katie Couric, click here.

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