Dear Kelly:

I appreciate your comments regarding Enron's advertising focus.  First, Enron 
become involved  with Enron Field for two reasons:  to keep the Astros in 
Houston and to gain energy and facilities management business for Enron 
Energy Services.  Acquiring the naming rights to the stadium came much later 
in our negotiations with the Astros.  In addition, while sports events like 
NASCAR are exciting to watch and get a fair amount of media play,  we're 
targeting a more specific audience with our advertising dollars.
  
Increasingly, Enron,s integrated products and services require the approval 
of an organization,s highest ranking officers, people who carry a &CXO8 
title, such as chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief 
information officer or chief technology officer. These individuals may not 
recognize Enron,s name and abilities as readily as energy-centric executives.

We also want to reach the elected and appointed officials who set policy and 
regulations affecting Enron businesses worldwide. The "Ask Why" advertising 
campaign launched in February this year was designed with these groups in 
mind as well as to put the Enron name and image on everyone,s radar screen. 
Enron commercials continue to appear on business channels such as CNBC and 
CNNfn, as well as the History Channel, ESPN and network news programs. Some 
are running in Europe as well.

While we won't rule out entirely the possibility of directing some of our 
future advertising dollars toward sports events, for now, we believe we are 
spending our ad budget where it will have the greatest positive impact on our 
business.

Thanks for your suggestion.  Keep them coming.

Ken






Kelly Merritt@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT
10/03/2000 04:20 PM
To: Kenneth Lay@ENRON
cc:  
Subject: Advertising Campaign - NASCAR

Mr. Lay,

I wasn't able to get my question to you at the all employee meeting. It was 
this:

The Enron sponsored Houston mini-cart Grand Prix entry placed second and 
received free air time of "Enron" on the news. With NASCAR being as popular 
as it is today, itself a multi-billion dollar industry, why hasn't Enron 
sponsored a racing team to compete against the other Fortune 500 sponsors? 
Enron is supporting stadiums, but why not a competition based on fuel, 
energy, and the most powerful being the victor?

Now with cigarettes and alcohol banned from advertising, companies such as 
AOL, Compaq, Southern Company, and Infoseek are on the tracks. Each race 
would provide more airtime of the Enron logo and further placement of "The 
New Power Company" in the retail consumer/viewer's venue. It would also give 
me someone to "root" for.

Kelly Merritt
Asset Mgr. - CALME/ENA