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Olympic athletes have small window for endorsements
Aug 4, 2008
WINNING STRATEGY
By Holly Sanders | New York Post
Olympic stars can translate into pure gold for advertisers - but only if the corporate sponsors can run the marathon courtship today's deals require.
For example, while most people will discover 19-year-old swimming sensation Katie Hoff when the Beijing Olympics kick off this week, Visa has been eyeing her since the 2004 games in Athens.
Visa didn't wait for Hoff - billed as the female Michael Phelps - to make it to the podium. The credit-card giant added her to its Olympic roster four years ago, banking she will be a breakout star in Beijing.
Most Olympic advertisers place their endorsement bets well in advance of the event. Sports marketers, agents and the media spend hours analyzing the athletes most likely to win medals and have identified those with the most compelling personal stories. But for all the dollars thrown at athletes, just a handful will land big endorsement deals.
"Nowadays, the breakout stars are few and far between," said Q Sports founder Patrick Quinn, whose clients include Olympic weightlifter Melanie Roach.
"It's increasingly difficult to come by an unexpected win."
Moreover, the race to seize on those as-yet-unknown talents has become even more competitive as corporate marketers look to live sporting events to draw audiences.
Visa is already evaluating its lineup of athletes for London in 2012. Meanwhile, marketers will start working the phones as soon as Beijing is over.
To maximize exposure, marketers prefer to put their ad dollars behind athletes leading up to the Games. Agents also hustle to land clients on mag covers and TV, a process that can take months.
Marketers say there is always the chance an athlete will emerge during competition. But with football season up next, the spotlight only lasts so long.
"That's when athletes can cash in," said Scott Sanford of Davie Brown Talent, a celebrity talent-buying firm. "It's a small window of time."
To measure a celebrity's endorsement power, Davie Brown created the Davie Brown Index (DBI), which uses consumer surveys to score celebrities along various attributes, including trust, appeal, influence, and aspiration.
