Tiger Woods’ ‘transgressions’ seem to have no effect on his endorsements. Corporate America seems to have no fear of the image of a serially philandering husband. It ‘has no intention of letting go its fierce embrace of Tiger Woods – no matter how many affairs he had.’
The reason is simple: ‘Woods is not only the world’s richest sports star, taking home a staggering $117 million last year – he’s a reliable cash cow who has brought untold riches to his sponsors.’
Last year alone, Woods raked in $117 million in income. Of the amount, only $7.7 million was from golf game winnings. The rest, in staggering amount, came from endorsement deals. ‘Earlier this year, he became the first sports figure to cross the $1 billion mark in earnings.’
“Sponsors and fans understand when you make a mistake. There’s no crime committed here and I think as long as it stays that way, no harm no foul,” Becher said. ‘Sponsors don’t consider marital betrayal that bad and assume the targets of their ads will give the golfer a pass,” one expert stated.
True enough, ‘commercial sponsors are sticking with him, for now—and likely forever.’ None of his sponsors abandoned him. Nike Golf spokeswoman Beth Gast says, “Nike supports Tiger and his family. Our relationship remains unchanged.” Gatorade announced, “Tiger and his family have our support as they work through this private matter.” Mike Norton of Gillette assured, “At this time, we are not making any changes to our existing marketing programs.”
Rick Burton, professor of sport management at Syracuse University, analyzes the surprising trend, “A lot of the brands have built their entire positioning platforms around him.” For one, Nike Golf ‘is heavily invested in Woods. It is largely through his heavy promotion that Nike became the leading golf apparel company.’
Scott Becher, president of Florida-based Sports and Sponsorships, thinks that ‘Woods would keep his endorsement deals because he hadn’t broken any serious laws and was making the right move in apologizing.’
Posted by GSerrano on December 5, 2009 in Business, Market Trends, News + Politics · 0 Comment
