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NFL Records Send Tomlinson's Market Value Soaring, Index Finds
Dec 21, 2006
NFL Records Send Tomlinson's Market Value Soaring, Index Finds
By Aaron Kuriloff
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- LaDainian Tomlinson's record- breaking season in the National Football League has transformed him from a marketing afterthought into a potential endorser on the level of basketball All-Star Allen Iverson, according to an index tracking sponsor appeal.
The latest Davie-Brown Index, which ranks celebrities by their ability to influence product sales, found that awareness of the San Diego Chargers' running back increased among all U.S. consumers to almost 37 percent from around 13 percent since Tomlinson broke the NFL season records for touchdowns and points in the past two games.
That raises Tomlinson, 27, from someone with the influence of a television pop star, like 2005 ``American Idol'' winner Carrie Underwood, to someone who commands the same attention as Iverson, the National Basketball Association's former Most Valuable Player who has a $100 million lifetime contract with Adidas AG's Reebok International Ltd.
``It's one of the biggest jumps we've seen over a short period of time like this,'' Scott Sanford, senior account director for Omnicom Group Inc.'s Davie-Brown Entertainment, said in a telephone interview following the report's release yesterday. Profiles are updated every four months by the Dallas- based company.
Only U.S. Olympic snowboarder Shaun White climbed faster after winning a gold medal in the 2006 Winter Games, Sanford said. White has since appeared in commercials for Hewlett- Packard Co., Sony Corp., PepsiCo Inc.'s Mountain Dew and Target Corp.
Alan Zucker, who represents Tomlinson in endorsements for the Cleveland-based IMG sports agency, said he wouldn't comment on new business opportunities during the NFL season.
Rankings
The index ranks celebrities on criteria including appeal, trust, influence and awareness. Tomlinson has always scored near the top of all categories except awareness, Sanford said.
Tomlinson's total had been around 36, in the same territory as Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart. It's now 50.5, close to the 58 of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who has appeared this season in commercials for MasterCard Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. Tomlinson now ranks in the top 20 percent of all athletes on the list and in the top five in terms of likeability.
Iverson, who was traded to the Denver Nuggets from the Philadelphia 76ers yesterday, has a total of 44.8.
NFL players don't usually rank among the leading celebrities on the list because each team includes more than 50 men who compete behind a helmet and face mask, Sanford said. Before this season, Tomlinson had one national endorsement deal, with shoe and apparel maker Nike Inc. The San Diego Union- Tribune said in September that Tomlinson had signed a ``handful'' of national deals early this season.
Super Bowl
Steve Rosner, founder and partner in the 16W Marketing sports consulting company, said Tomlinson's visibility suffers from his location in San Diego, the U.S.'s eighth-largest city, where the Chargers have never won the Super Bowl.
``In what I call the tools of the trade -- shoe contract, trading cards, video games -- in those areas he's had some success,'' Rosner said. ``But this is the year he'll be starting to get more interest from corporate America.''
Tomlinson's rising visibility also might help him earn regional endorsements along the California coast, said Rosner, whose company is based in Rutherford, New Jersey.
To climb any higher on the Davie-Brown Index, Tomlinson needs his teammates' help, just as he needed them to score a league-record 31 touchdowns and 186 points this season, Sanford said.
``There are few NFL players who have become marketable without Super Bowl success,'' he said. ``I think a lot still depends on what happens in January.''
