Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.bonus From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: bonus Fri, Aug 7 1992 Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 04:31:46 EDT Message-ID: 08-07 0000 BONUS: Olympians cash in on success USA TODAY Update Aug. 7-9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network As the Barcelona Olympic Games drift toward a close, dozens of athletes are readying themselves for a far more lucrative event: the endorsement games. No deals have been announced. But athletes, their agents and marketers are jockeying for big-bucks Madison Avenue deals on everything from headache remedies to soft drinks, cars and fast food. SO WHO WILL EMERGE AS WINNERS? Mostly women. In the past few Olympics, they've been winning a greater percentage of gold medals among U.S athletes. They've also been behaving better than their male counterparts, and marketers are finding them cheaper - and perhaps easier - to deal with. "So far, the pecking order I'd recommend is (track star) Jackie Joyner-Kersee, (sprinter:hurdler) Gail Devers and (gymnast) Shannon Miller," says Stephen Disson of sports-marketing consultant D&F Group. "When I look at the males, the only one I can think of is (swimmer) Pablo Morales." WHAT KIND OF METTLE DOES IT TAKE TO BE GET ENDORSEMENTS? Charisma, poise and performance are keys to any athlete shooting for endorsement gold. And male athletes such as diver Mark Lenzi, gymnast Trent Dimas, sprinter:long jumper Carl Lewis and swimmers Morales and Mike Barrowman will undoubtedly cash in. WHY ARE WOMEN FAVORED? Given the celebrity status and marketing appeal of past gold-medalists such as Mary Lou Retton and Florence Griffith-Joyner, there's a slow but steady shift in sentiment favoring female athletes. An added bonus: They're comparatively inexpensive. Most will fetch $50,000 to $100,000 per deal, vs. $200,000 for their male counterparts. WHAT PUTS DEVERS NEAR THE TOP OF THE LIST? Disson, who represents Olympians and corporate clients, says Devers will attract marketers because of her compelling saga. She won a gold medal and was in the hunt for a second until tripping near the finish line of the 100-meter hurdles Thursday - after nearly having her feet amputated a year ago due to Graves' disease. And the charismatic Joyner-Kersee - who'd inked deals with Xerox, Panasonic, 7 -Up, Primatine Mist and Bausch & Lomb - could become even more popular since overcoming injuries to grab a second consecutive gold medal in the heptathlon. DOES TEMPERAMENT PLAY A ROLE? Costs aside, women have something else going for them: Some male Olympians have come across as underachievers, whiners or overpampered, outlandish brutes. Gold-medal decathlon favorite Dan O'Brien failed to land a spot on the U.S. squad. Dave Johnson finished a lackluster third Thursday. Swimmer Matt Biondi was a bust. The men's volleyball team, in an early protest after a match against Japan, lost their golden-boy locks by shaving their heads in a show of team unity. They look less like commercial hucksters than prisoners in Alien Three. ARE MALE ATHLETES A RISK? "Some companies have gotten burned by male athletes," notes Donna Lopiano, executive director of the 280,000-member Women's Sports Foundation. "It used to be that they were sure-thing heroes, but that's not the case anymore. What the Olympics is doing is giving everyone a picture of what you do and don't want an athlete to be. Women are going to be the newest marketable prospects because they haven't been spoiled yet, and they haven't priced themselves out of the market because they haven't been in demand." HOW ARE THE WOMEN USED IN THE ADS? To some firms, corporate sponsorships of women's events and hiring female athletes to appear in commercials makes common sense. Thursday, long-distance telephone carrier MCI Communications launched poignant television ads in connection with its Friends & Family campaign. The ads feature 10-kilometer race walker Michelle Rohl - who had a personal best but finished out of medal contention - talking long-distance with husband Michael and 2-year-old daughter Mollie. WHAT IS BUDGET RENT-A-CAR'S STRATEGY? Budget Rent-A-Car began sponsoring women's professional golf and tennis tours last year to target the 50% of its customers who are women. "Like many companies, we were very traditional - we used to throw money at all sorts of sporting events, mostly men's," says marketing director David Sparks. "But there's a tremendous amount of clutter in men's sports sponsorships, there's a lack of focus, and they tend to be the most expensive because that's where all the fish are." ARE THERE THINGS WORKING AGAINST WOMEN? For one thing, athletics and endorsements remain a macho business dominated by an old-boy corporate network that makes the bulk of the decisions on which sports stars to hire. "The orientation of men and sports is so powerful that the strong connection between marketers and men's sports isn't going to go away," says Irma Zandl, co-author of Targeting the Trendsetting Consumer. DOES MEDIA EXPOSURE PLAY A ROLE? Most women's sports, with the exception of golf and tennis, get little media exposure while men's professional baseball, basketball and football provide year-round, fertile exposure for marketers to link with male sports stars. "Most women athletes come out of obscurity only once every four years," says Lesa Ukman, president of sports-marketing consultant International Events Group. "Since women don't have the same pro circuits as men, a company like Nike will spend more money on someone involved in a sport with a bigger TV audience." DO ATHLETES KNOW HOW TO MARKET THEMSELVES? Many women athletes - as well as men - are naive about marketing themselves. That has especially hurt women, marketers say. For example, when cyclist Connie Carpenter Phinney won the gold medal in the 1984 Games, she figured marketers would flock to her. Phinney ultimately hired Disson, who secured several deals worth a combined $250,000 or so for a few years. Phinney never hit the big-time endorsement deal. Bonus Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM