Richard Crasnick, President and CEO of FIKI (Flick It and Kick It) Sports has
always enjoyed playing tabletop football. Using a simple sheet of paper folded
into a triangle and an opponent’s outstretched fingers as goalposts, tabletop
(or paper) football fans worldwide have enjoyed playing this classic game for
countless years.
In January 2000, he
created FIKI Sports (Flick It and Kick It) producing FIKI Football, a product
that enhances the everyday tabletop football game. The sheet of paper is replaced
with a genuine leather “football”, featuring a pro-style pebble
surface, laces and coil stitching, while retaining the triangle design reminiscent
of the original game. A goalpost is included and is the perfect substitute for
one’s fingers. The company’s newest product, FIKI Basketball, will
hit shelves this September. Baseball and soccer versions of the game will be
released in 2006.
FIKI Sports, which Crasnick started running out of his apartment, has since
grown into a 5500 square foot warehouse and today, FIKI Football is sold in
more than 5000 locations throughout the country and via the company’s
website www.fikisports.com. Major retailers include Hallmark, Barnes & Noble, Borders Books, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Calendar Club, Go 2 Game Stores, Books-A-Million, Learning Express, Pro Image, Sports Fan-Attic, Kroger, Hy-Vee Supermarkets and Modell's Sporting Goods, as well as team and fan shops and college bookstores nationwide.
Crasnick is marketing the product through his company and via a network of
more than 200 sales reps covering a variety of retailers including the gift
industry, college bookstores, team and souvenir shops, supermarkets, convenience
stores and mass merchants.
FIKI also licenses about 70 colleges and universities, producing the “Collegiate
Collection,” decorated with the logos of many of college football and
basketball’s most popular teams. Even corporate America is on board. America
Online (AOL) continues to have successful promotions with FIKI Football at the
NFL Experience during Super Bowl XXXVIII & XXXIX, distributing more than
50,000 AOL/NFL Experience branded FIKIs. Anheuser-Busch has selected FIKI FOOTBALL
as the “Official Game Ball of Budweiser Flickball,” a tabletop football
tournament that visited 400 cities in 2004 and 2005.
Additional corporate clients include Coca-Cola, Yahoo!, Cellstar, DIRECTV,
Merkts Cheese Spread, Oregon Lottery, R.L. Polk, Pepsi, White Castle, Alliant
Energy and the Oregon Community Credit Union.
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Sporting
Goods/Accessories
