Global sports brand is born
Commercial Offers Roll in for Phelps
Swimmer Michael Phelps has a chance to become the newest global sports
brand after winning a record-tying eight medals at the Athens Olympics,
even in a sport that gets little attention, sports marketers said.
The 19-year-old Phelps collected six golds and two bronzes in Athens,
matching the single- Games record for medals set by Soviet Union gymnast
Alexander Dityatin in 1980. Phelps already endorses six companies, including
Visa International Inc., Argent Mortgage Co. and AT&T Wireless Services
Inc. He has received "numerous inquiries" in the past week,
his manager, Peter Carlisle, said.
"Swimming for so long wasn't confident that it could have stars like
Lance Armstrong, Michael Schumacher or Tiger Woods," said Dave Flaskas,
manager of Australian champion swimmer Ian Thorpe. "Phelps is now
an international star."
Swimming draws little attention from U.S. audiences outside of the Olympics.
Most interest in Phelps may come from other countries, Carlisle said.
"Swimming is a very international sport, and he is potentially one
of the best swimmers of all time," Carlisle said. "That will
generate interest internationally regardless of what marketers do in the
U.S."
Phelps was already familiar to U.S. television viewers. He appeared on
six national commercials before the Games, including ones for AT&T
and Visa. Bonuses from his sponsors for his Olympic performance exceeded
the $510,000 paid to him by the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Swimming
for his achievements, Carlisle said.
Flaskas said he understands how short an attention span Americans have
for Olympic swimming. Thorpe's team concentrated its marketing efforts
on the U.S. after the 21-year-old's three gold medals at Sydney 2000.
They've switched to Japan and China now, partly because the 2008 Games
will be in Beijing.
"Swimming has a high profile in those countries, unlike in the States,"
Flaskas said. "I keep getting told that after the closing ceremony,
Americans tend to wait four years before thinking about the Olympics again."
Even so, Thorpe will return to the U.S. after a vacation to try to build
on the Olympics. He won two gold medals in Athens to become his nation's
most successful Olympic athlete. "After the magnificent achievements
of Phelps, swimming might be a bit more topical," Flaskas said.
Swimming
already has a global flag- bearer. The 21-year-old Thorpe's image is used
to sell Adidas-Solomon AG products around the world.
Phelps may need a similar sponsorship agreement to develop an international
profile, said Ben Wells of Redmandarin,
a London-based sports marketing consultancy. Phelps's main sponsor is
swimwear manufacturer Speedo International Ltd, a unit of Warnaco Group
Inc. The contract runs until 2009.
"Can Speedo really commit the budget to use Phelps in that way?"
Wells asked. "I'm not sure Speedo has the pull or the budget. He
would need an Adidas to come on board to market him to a wider audience."
Phelps fits the template for the type of athlete many sponsors seek, said
Ryan Schinman, president of New York- based Platinum Rye Entertainment,
which arranges sports endorsements. "He has the All-American, clean-cut
look and there is no controversy associated with him," Schinman said
in an interview. "He appeals to a mass market because he's still
a teenager, so you can appeal to a younger audience, a younger demographic."
Unlike top-ranked golfer Woods and Formula One record champion Schu- macher,
Phelps competes in a sport that grabs the world's attention just once
every four years. Nations such as Australia that regard swimming as a
marquee sport are the exception.
"It's a challenge when you're marketing any Olympic athlete to keep
the momentum between the Games," Carlisle said. "Still, Phelps'
marketing value will be unprecedented in swimming if it isn't already."
By Grant Clark, Bloomberg News
August 28, 2004
