sport marketing : Phelps' power depends on more than gold
Games' short span makes it tough for Olympians to reach same heights as pros
By Mike Hughlett found at www.chicagotribune.com/
August 15, 2008
Michael Phelps is one of the greatest Olympians ever, snagging media attention
normally reserved for such sports titans as Tiger Woods.
But he's not yet playing at Tiger's level, or even that of Shaquille O'Neal
or Peyton Manning, in the lucrative world of sports marketing.
Getting to that level would be a true Olympian feat, marketing experts say,
because as big as Phelps is now, he's a star in a sport that captures our
fancy only every four years. Within a week or so, most sports fans' passion
will revert to its normal season cycle: football and the baseball pennant
race.
Still, Phelps has a good chance to significantly boost his income from
corporate endorsements, which already amount to millions of dollars. But
critical to his marketing future will be his ability to transcend swimming to
become a national hero of sorts, or at least a major celebrity.
That means landing plenty of gigs on TV talk shows, and perhaps even a spot on
" Saturday Night Live"—venues to show off his affable personality
beyond the pool, and fully dressed.
"He's going to have grow into his marketability," said David Carter,
executive director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business
Institute.
Though Olympic athletes don't get paid directly for their medals, the games
are like any other sport: They're big business. Corporations like McDonald's
and Coca-Cola pour tens of millions into sponsoring the Olympics. Companies
invest in individual athletes too, hoping to associate their brand with a
winner.
Phelps came into this year's Olympics counting AT&T, Visa, Omega watches,
Power Bar and, of course, Speedo, among his sponsors. After Phelps won his
10th career medal this week, Visa quickly put out a new ad featuring Phelps in
a dramatic photo, celebrating the U.S. swim team's victory over France in a
relay race.
"The returns his sponsors are getting are amazing at this particular
point," said John Rowady, president of rEvolution, a Chicago-based sports
marketing firm.
Indeed Phelps, who has previously competed in the Olympics, won a record 11
career gold medals as of Thursday. And he's closing in on Mark Spitz's record
of seven gold medals in one Olympics, and aiming for eight. If he gets all
eight, his commercial value will only rise more.
All that winning has put the media into overdrive, prompting one blogger at
the Sporting News to talk of Phelps fatigue. "It's not easy when every
single thing that is happening at the Games is framed—yes: eclipsed—by
Phelps mania," wrote Dan Shanoff on The Sporting Blog.
Such sentiments couldn't be more pleasing to Phelps' sponsors and his agent.
They know that in sports terms, the Olympics is a fleeting event, and it's
over in about a week.
"There will be a rapid descent in interest," said Paul Swangard,
head of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center.
"Within a few weeks, we'll have the NFL and college football and the
homestretch of baseball."
The stars of those sports, along with those of basketball, golf and tennis,
have a familiarity to sports fans. Turn on ESPN's SportsCenter, and there's
Derek Jeter or LeBron James performing amazing feats, just like last season
and the season before that.
It's a different story with the Olympics, and that affects corporate
endorsement deals.
"Olympic athletes by and large have very short cycles in which they can
generate revenues as sponsors," said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp,
a Chicago-based consulting firm.
Olympians certainly get commercial gigs. Skier Suzy Chaffee was transformed
into "Suzy Chapstick" to sell lip balm. Figure skater Dorothy Hamill,
like Phelps a media darling, plugged Clairol hair conditioner.
But they're usually not star earners. Forbes magazine's "Celebrity
100" list, which is ranked by income, features scores of athletes but has
no Olympians outside of those who also play such pro sports as basketball or
tennis.
Sports endorsement heavyweights annually earn "high single-digit
[millions of dollars] to mid-teen" millions, Ganis said. Tiger Woods is
believed to pull in up to $60 million in endorsements alone.
Estimates of Phelps' sponsorship income vary widely, but it would appear to be
at least a few million dollars, Ganis said. That's healthy for an Olympic
athlete, and Phelps has attributes that could keep it that way.
First, he has competed in three Olympics and plans on a fourth. "There's
a longevity to Phelps that typically you don't find in Olympic athletes,"
Ganis said, adding that swimmers, who are well-muscled yet lithe athletes,
often are perceived as sexy.
While Phelps doesn't have the dashing look of Mark Spitz, he has a cool,
business-like demeanor in front of the cameras and is known as a team player.
Still, "he needs to buff out his personality and really demonstrate his
charisma," said Carter of USC's Sports Business Institute. Phelps should
get his chance after the Games when talk show hosts like David Letterman and
Jay Leno come calling.
Viewers will then get to see if Phelps has a commercial draw like Peyton
Manning, or if he's more like Manning's brother Eli. Both NFL quarterbacks do
endorsements, but Peyton has been more successful.
Said Carter, "One of the things that helps sell product is, can people
relate to you?"
mhughlett@tribune.com
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