The recent Tiger Woods crisis showed the world how brands and athletes are tightly linked. While Accenture, Gatorade, AT&T dropped the golfer, other brands such as Gillette and Procter and Gamble, have significantly dimmed down their use of Tiger in advertising campaigns. EA Sports played differently as Tiger shared his PGA Tour 2011 video game cover for the first time in 13 years. On the other hand, Nike stood by his athlete and aired an interesting, yet controversial advertsing campaign.
Athletes are the icons of sports brands. The Tiger Woods case showed us that it can be a double edged sword. I reckon the most famous football marketing icons would be David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane & Lionel Messi among others for adidas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney & Didier Drogba (among others) for Nike. Eto’o being the Puma icon for some years now.
It’s not an easy task to link a player to a brand. It is a long way process. Brands have a very well thought scouting system, and know talented young players before they get under mediatic spotlights. Sponsorship deals are being made, with parents agreement, and the kid grows up with the brand throughout his career. For those who saw the U-19 final where France deafeated Spain 2-1, all these youngsters were (already) wearing either adidas, Nike or Puma footwear. Obviously, these brands did not come up yesterday to add these players to their portfolio.
Gael Kakuta, the Chelsea player, Alexandre Lacazette the Olympique Lyonnais striker and Cédric Bakambu are the perfect examples. Three upcoming french stars, the first one wears the Superfly Vapour II, the OL player strikes with the adidas adizero F50 and Bakambu scored 2 goals against The Netherlands with his Pumas.
The “big three” are in constant look for the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Once players are contracted by either one the three (adidas, Nike, Puma) it is difficult for the other two to step in. In other words, I don’t see Nike approaching Xavi nor adidas willing to sign Didier Drogba. Not only the Spaniard and the Ivory Coast player are already strongly “stamped” by their current sponsor but it will be a very costly deal if it gets through. Secondly I would like to think that the sponsors would rather invest in signing new young players with this amount of cash.
Brands link their image (and vice versa) to footballers from a very early age and this is a long term investment which will pay off when these talented players will lift a World Cup or Champions League trophy. In the meantime, they would have encapsulated their sponsors brand image and values. They would have represented the brand throughout their career. For instance, Zidane & Beckham will always be associated with the adidas brand and ultimately with the Predator boot. Recently, we have seen Nike’s effort to market Cristiano Ronaldo with the Mercurial Vapor Superfly II and Rooney with the T90 Laser III.
Happy to hear your thoughts!
Nice post Karl, some interesting ideas – the majority I support.
I wonder however, if the devotion of players to their sponsors could have a negative effect on the on-pitch performances?
I have grown playing football, cricket and tennis to competitive standards and am now also branching into golf. Throughout this time I have felt that the equipment supplied by some brands support my game, whereas others I do not feel so comfortable with. For example, I LOVE Adidas footwear and currently own their Supernova running trainers, Copa Mundial footie boots and Tour 360 gold shoes. I recently bought some Nike tennis shoes, but they just don't feel right and I'm about to replace them with the Adidas equivalent. I know where I am with Adidas and they, quite literally, suit me down to the ground.
In another situation, my beloved Kookaburra cricket bat came to a bitter end this season and being unable to replace it with an identical match, decided to try the new Adidas range. My form went out of the window. The weight, pick-up and shape of the bat is completely different.
Oppositely, following a bad period of form on the golf course I decided to change my driver from my usual Nike Sumo to the TaylorMade R9 and with incredible results. I am now playing more consistently, confidently and successfully than ever before.
My point is this… Athletes tied down to specific endorsement deals with sponsors will be unaware of the other products that are available which could benefit their game. Secondly, a sponsored player is confined to using the kit given and provided for them. When new products are released they are tied into using these items rather than staying with what they know, which can breed poor performance. Lastly, in times of strife and poor form they may be unable to test that new product that could boost their confidence and aid their quest for success