Sporting Currency

Brand Beckham To The Rescue

Arguably the preeminent brand of its kind, the power of Brand Beckham is about to be pressure tested like never before.

Sure he sells shirts by the bucket load, even at the ripe old age of 37. Just ask the world’s richest club, Paris St Germain.

And sure he can single-handedly bolster stadium attendances for an entire nation’s top football division. Organizers of the United States’ Major League Soccer could testify to that.

Hell, he even landed the Olympic Games for London…Okay, had a hand in.

But whether he can help rescue the deteriorating reputation of football in China is quite another thing.

The country has been rocked by months of match-fixing revelations, which have led to 58 arrests, including the league’s top official.

Shanghai Shenhua were also stripped of their league title from 2003 as part of investigations and saw their two star foreign players, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, break their contracts to leave the Chinese Football Association (CFA) altogether.

And yet the Chinese top brass clearly believe the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and LA Galaxy star will be able to turn around public opinion.

With a suitcase full of cash, Beckham will make three visits to China during the season from March to November to promote the sport and attract the global spotlight.

As far as the CFA are concerned, job done.

And yet the cynic in me can’t help but question the implications of this shameless move from the Chinese league. Understandable if Beckham had signed on to play for a Chinese team - even a short term loan.

But to simply buy his face and his following surely and openly just highlights the financial clout of the authoritarian organization under scrutiny. Surely this is sporting endorsement gone mad?!

Will it work? Probably…

The Calculated Cost Of Sport Sponsorships

Oscar Pistorius. Lance Armstrong. Tiger Woods: Three of the most infamous names in global sporting history. And three case studies of the ruthlessness of the sports sponsorship industry.

Pistorious, the South African Paralympic champion and source of inspiration to millions of people around the world, stands accused of “premeditated murder” following the shooting dead of his girlfriend model Reeva Steenkamp.

Whether he is proven innocent or guilty – and although trivial in comparison to the tragic loss the Steenkamp family is suffering with - its likely Pistorious will suffer the same indignity at the hands of his sponsors as Armstrong, the architect behind the “most sophisticated doping programme ever” in the cycling world, and Woods, following the golfing great’s infidelity admissions and subsequent very public marriage break-up in 2009.

All three controversial figures were at the time endorsed by Nike – and while the sports innovation brand has until recently stuck by Woods – Pistorius, like Armstrong, has had his principal contract terminated – reports suggest they had a $2 million per year deal in place.

Telco BT, fashion house Thierry Mugler, sunglass brand Oakley, and Ossur, the Icelandic company that makes the prosthetic carbon fibre blades for Pistorious, either have or are also in the process of abandoning the South African sprinter from their marketing rosters.

It begs the question whether these instances, and the dozens of others that happen each year on more localized levels, could trigger a change in the brand sponsorship model. Will there by a way in the future that helps brands mitigate risk, financial and reputability, as they continue to entrust people to be the face of their brand? Or could it, just maybe, be the beginning of the end for the mega sponsor figurehead as brands seek drastic ways to minimize risk and yet still maximize return on leaner and leaner investments? Here’s for one hoping not…

Guard change confirmed at Nike

Its been coming for a while. But now its official. Rory McIlroy is the number one golfer on the planet. Not just in the world rankings - which he’s topped since May 2012 - but also now in the game’s lucrative sponsorship world.

The 23-year-old Irish superstar was today named Nike’s new ambassador, an iconic brand role within the game that was held previously for 16 years by the troubled legend that is Tiger Woods.

Reports suggest McIlroy’s sponsorship deal will be worth up to $125 million (£77m) over five years, making him one of the best paid sports stars in the world, and equal to Woods and his American compatriot Phil Mickelson, after winnings and other advertising contracts.

The Price of the Super Bowl

Clearly, something is still working…

With Super Bowl XLVII less than a month away, brands have once again flocked to the network, this time CBS, to lock down their advertising slots.

As of January 8th, the ‘unofficial official’ word from CBS Corporations was that they had sold all 70 of their 30-second spots for the New Orleans finale on February 3rd.

Reports suggest the average cost for each 30 seconds was between $3.7 - 3.8 million, up from last year when NBC averaged out at $3.5 million.

Motivation, needless to say, comes from the huge number of viewers that continue to tune into the Big Game. Three successive record-breaking years saw last year’s total top out at a whopping 111.3 million viewers.

And with studies showing the diversification of audiences, as well as the overall volume increase, the value for brands is continuing to grow, mocking the downward trend that TV effectiveness has fought against in recent years.

Time. Players are ready.

Picture the scene; you’ve just won your maiden grand slam title; you’re delirious; stumbling around with a dumbfounded, tearful grin; half expectant that any second the rapturous applause deafening you might be silenced, and you’ll wake up at home in bed, startled, in a cold sweat, realizing it was all just a dream.

But then snap back to reality. It was real. And as the ceremonial stage is rapidly erected in front of you, you’re reminded of the ‘duties’ required of, at that precise moment in time, the most famous, most photographed face on the planet.

And you realize you can’t find your damn’ $2,000 (£1,250) designer watch, provided by your sponsor Rado, the Swiss watchmaker, an essential accompaniment to the victorious trophy lofting photos that will grace papers around the world tomorrow.

“I don’t have it, I don’t have it,” Andy Murray, the 2012 US Open, and Olympic gold medal winner, was seen mouthing towards his corner at the Arthur Ashe stadium.

It was an unusual, heartwarming moment. A moment that brought him and us back down to earth. Few could imagine the devastatingly imperious Roger Federer having this trouble! And yet it’s unlikely to hamper the avalanche of wealthy endorsements and sponsorships heading his way.

Forbes Magazine estimates Murray’s earnings to have topped $12m (£7.5m) in the past 12 months but this is likely to triple in the coming year, with incumbent sponsors Adidas, Royal Bank of Scotland and Jaguar all being forced to up their game to keep hold of today’s face of the tennis times.