Phelps
has gone global. A huge marketing machine behind Michael Phelps hit town
Monday, with a strategy in place to make him a global brand - and
even richer.
A
day after Phelps won his eighth gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, making him
the most successful swimmer and Olympian of all time, corporate executives
emerged from poolside well prepared to capitalize on his new-found fame...
"This
absolutely changes the game. The values will change, the depth of the programs
he is involved with will change, the breadth of these programs will
change," said Phelps's agent, Peter Carlisle.
Before
Beijing, it was estimated that Phelps's sponsorship deals earned him about $5
million a year, although Carlisle, who has acted as Phelps's agent for six
years, would not confirm this.
But
as Phelps won gold after gold at Beijing, his appeal soared and television
audiences in the United states, the world's biggest media market, watched his
victories in record numbers.
Joyce
Julius & Associates, a sponsorship evaluator, estimated that Phelps's
air-time value to Speedo, another one of his sponsors, was $3.6 million after
winning five golds - more than justifying the $1 million bonus that Speedo
paid Phelps for matching Mark Spitz's record of winning seven gold medals at a
single Olympics.
Carlisle
said that previous Olympians had struggled to stay in the public eye between
the Games but that he was confident that Phelps Inc. would maintain its
momentum because of a multilayered marketing strategy that was not focused
only on swimming competitions.
Phelps
has made it clear that his goal is to raise the profile of swimming.