By extracting a record eight gold medals from the Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps has emerged as one of the most famous athletes in the world.
For days, stories of the U.S. swimmer’s successes were splashed on front pages from Asia to South America; he was the talk of network morning shows and innumerable blogs. At least 40 million in the U.S. watched Phelps nab two of his gold medals on television Aug. 12, millions more than turn on a World Series game.
Now that Phelps is the signature athlete of the Beijing Games, he faces another challenge — joining the ranks of sports’ marketing giants. Though his well-known name and affable personality will generate sizable endorsement pacts by year’s end, can the 23-year-old reach the heights of golfer Tiger Woods (more than $100 million in endorsement income in 2007, tops among U.S. athletes, according to Sports Illustrated ) or even Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (around $25 million)?
"It is possible but unlikely for the simple reason that swimming commands our attention only once every four years, while Tiger and LeBron enjoy weekly, even daily coverage during their respective seasons," said John Davis, a professor of marketing at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University. His book "The Olympic Games Effect — How Sports Marketing Builds Strong Brands" was published this month.
"Swimming is really not the topic of our typical sports conversations once the Olympics end, so sustained visibility will be a challenge for Phelps," Davis added. In fact, once the Olympic torch is extinguished, football — both college and pro — will dominate the national conversation.
According to Joyce Julius & Associates, only days into Phelps' record-setting run, his corporate backers such as Speedo and Nike had already received $9 million of exposure value during primetime NBC broadcasts (shots of his swim cap and other apparel constituted the majority of the publicity). Firms who ink a deal with him in the next few weeks will not see a payoff from swimming events for years — Phelps will rarely compete on national television until the London Olympics in 2012.
How long will Phelps last as a marketing phenomenon? Davis believes he will be attractive for at least a year, as long as he avoids controversy such as his DUI arrest after the Athens Games in 2004.
"For Phelps to have staying power his agent needs to work overtime to place Michael on the various shows (Letterman, Leno, and so on) while, at the same time, not saturating the market with Phelps," he pointed out. "It is a tough balancing act."