As I write this, the Dallas Cowboys (a.ka. “America’s Team”) is playing a preseason game against the Denver Broncos. And of course, the Summer Olympics are receiving wall-to-wall coverage. Now seems like a great time to talk about sports marketing, particularly as it applies to heroes and role models.
I’ve never been a rabid sports fan. The colleges I went to had no football teams (my favorite sport), and outside the Cowboys, I’m just not a huge fan of any of my hometown teams. (Full disclosure: I’ve had my heart broken by the Texas Rangers every year since I first moved to Texas, and I finally gave up on ‘em. Never been a big basketball or hockey fan.) However, I do follow sports, especially where it pertains to marketing and endorsement deals.
Here’s the problem: in this post 9/11 age, I no longer define the word “hero” in respect to sports. It’s not that I fail to appreciate great atheletic efforts. It’s just that, once you’ve seen somebody volunteer to go get shot at to defend our country from terrorists, you just can’t devalue that word by using it to describe some winning touchdown, home run, or goal.
Since I no longer look at sports figures as ‘heroic,’ it causes me to examine how we put sports figures on pedestals – and how that’s not necessarily a good idea.
When I see a company sign an endorsement deal with a sports star, I ask myself, “what’s gonna happen when they screw up?” As a marketer, I would NEVER advise a client to sign a deal with a sports figure. For every good guy that lives life with a code of conduct, ethics, and an attidute that is sans-ego (Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Tiger Woods, and Roger Staubach spring to mind), there are dozens of atheletes that are as big a problem in their off-the-field life as they have success on the field. Name a sports star with an endorsement and odds are, you’ll find a story that shows them to be less than ideal as a role model. Do you want your kid emulating A-Rod? Not if you want him to be faithful to his wife. Michael Irvin? Drugs, hookers, and run-ins with the police are not my idea of a role model. What about all the steroid kings in baseball? No thanks.
See, I’d rather define “hero” as someone who does something to help others – like the guy that saves his platoon from death by a bunch of Islamic Radicals. Or the Marine that drags his wounded buddy to safety. Put those guys on a box of Wheaties, and I’ll order a case. (Note to General Mills: make sure you donate some of your profits to a military-related charity, and I’ll make sure everyone I know buys a case.) When we’re at war, somehow the all-time rushing record just doesn’t seem like that big a deal.
The real problem comes in when the sports hero endorsee proves he has feet of clay. Ever wonder why there are so many sports scandals now-a-days? I think I know. Back in the day, if you had some big scandal, the powers-that-be came down on the miscreants like a ton o’ bricks. The Black Sox players were banned from pro baseball for life. It’s hard to be a hero when you lose your audience. Today, it doesn’t seem to matter what your offense might be, all you need do it check into the Betty Ford Clinic, write a tell-all autobiography where you have your ghost writer blame your parents and your lousy childhood, go on a talkshow, then get back to work. I’ll bet you money that when Michael Vick gets out of the slammer there will be at least ONE owner of an NFL team that will make him an offer. Unless of couse he gets shanked in prison or something.
Why are sports stars so prone to bad behavior? My theory is that they are never told “no” growing up – they learn that their atheletic ability is like one big “get out of jail free” card. Essentially, those around them – their parents, coaches, and fans – teach them that, because of their ability, they don’t have to play by the same rules as the rest of us. That’s a pity, because these people do a great disservice to their budding sports star. All it takes is one injury, and an athelete can instantly go from hot prospect or sports star to washed-up has-been.
What’s a marketer to do? My advice is to avoid sports endorsements altogether. Most of them (unless you’re a sports gear manufacturer) don’t really make a lot of sense. If you must, make sure your contract has a morals clause with some serious teeth in it. And by “teeth” I mean “if you screw up, you give back every dime we ever gave you, and cut a spot, for free, where you appologize to your fans, to us, and do one be mea culpa to allow us to distance ourselves from you forever.”
A better idea would be to get some REAL heroes to endorse your products. Look around. It’s not difficult. There are plenty of furloughed servicemen and women that are real heroes. They could use the attention AND the endorsement money. And they’ve already proven themselves in the heat of battle. Literally. Think of the prima donnas you’ll avoid…and the life lessons you’ll teach those that look up to the heroes you promote.
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