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The Tiger loses its claws and other endorsements

Tiger Woods, the world’s number one golfer, is under fire for his less than virtuous ways.

So far, 13 alleged mistresses (and counting) have come out of the woodwork. To salvage what is left of the sportsman’s marriage to wife Elin Nordegren, Tiger has declared an indefinite leave from the golfing life. Once the ruckus has died, will there still be a roar left in the sports celebrity’s endorsements?
   
One of the world’s most marketable athletes, Tiger earned over a billion dollars from deals with Gatorade, Nike, Accenture, Gillete, Electronic Arts and Tag Heuer.  And just like that, as of November 29, 2009, Tiger disappeared from all TV ads.

Gatorade, with whom Tiger had a five-year endorsement contract, was the first company to drop the golfer. It was especially painful since Tiger’s line, Gatorade Tiger Focus. entitled him to royalties from the sports drink’s sales.

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Accenture threw in the towel, too, after a six-year relationship with the sportsman. Its ads capitalized on Tiger “personifying its’ values of integrity and high performance.” Considering Tiger’s paramour problem, pursuing the campaign would be foolhardy.

While yanking him out would be the obvious choice in this dwindling global economy, other companies are showing some savvy and swerving the controversy to their advantage. Let’s face it, taking down an image model and spicing up a new ad campaign costs a pretty penny. Hence, those with less vested interest are more likely to pull the plug.

Nike, Tiger’s biggest deal at US$20 million, and Electronic Arts, which manufactures Tiger’s sports video games and has the golfer at a hefty US$8 million, still remain  supportive. At face value, their decision may look foolhardy, but come on, this is the world of advertising—where just below the surface is a second skin.

    Advertisers can wade through the mud in several ways. First, they can use the scandal as leverage, negotiating for lower talent fees and more stringent moral clauses. After all, people in endorsement jeopardy can’t be choosers. The next time Tiger Woods enters endorsements territory, he is—to put it bluntly—damaged goods. Endorsements are nearly 90 percent of Tiger’s income, so expect a barrage of damage control for the companies who will keep Tiger.

Or they can just do the “Kobe”. Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, who was charged with rape in 2003, lost a wealth of endorsements. Although Nike promoted Kobe, it still kept him on the wagon. Two years later, the scandal died, and Kobe was back on his A-game. Not long after, Nike brought the basketball player back into the limelight.

But alas, this is the world of golf, where the stakes are higher.

Bruce Lucker, president of Signature Golf, a marketing company that services the golf industry, echoes,  “Golf is about honesty and the integrity of the player and calling penalties on yourself, sponsors choose to support golf instead of the NFL or NBA where those guys are constantly getting into trouble." 

It isn’t everyday that a scandal disrupts this polite sport. How this will affect the prodigy that made golf a cool sport…well, it’s anyone’s ball game now.

 
 

Partner with adobo Magazine

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