We have all heard more than we really need to about Tiger Woods’ escapades, but there have not been many comments about whether and why this is going to affect his endorsements. The few I’ve seen with specific, sponsorship-oriented commentary seem to think that Tiger’s immense golfing talent will see him through this storm. As things sit, I have to disagree.
No athlete can earn $1 billion just by virtue of being freakishly good at a sport, Tiger Woods included. He has had immense commercial value because of his strong appeal with people who are not golf fans. He’s a golf crossover – a blockbuster that transcends his genre, giving him and his sponsors a much larger effective audience than virtually any other athlete in the world. This is similar to how David Beckham has developed a large fan base outside of the soccer world.
The rub for Tiger Woods is that these non-golf fans care more about the whole package than golf purists, and that’s just the package Woods has screwed up, with his approval rating dropping 24% from June, and that was before many of the most recent revelations.
From those crossover fans’ point of view, the tally looks something like:
- Amazing golfer.
- Allegedly cheated on lovely wife and mother of his two kids with a reported eleven mistresses (give or take a couple).
- Reports of communications with these mistresses that range from crude to sneaky to accusatory.
- His wife was reported to have given ambulance officers two bottles of prescription medication at the crash scene, and Woods was allegedly admitted to hospital with a “suspected overdose”.
- Cagey, dismissive responses to fans, and no response to media.
I’m in no position to know what’s true and what’s not, but on the surface, it’s all looking pretty sleazy, and that will hurt him with those fans who are not golf aficionados. His image no longer includes being the clean cut, family man and has veered into the territory of lying, cheating narcissist.
I can’t see any reason for Nike to review their sponsorship. That sponsorship aims squarely at golfers and golf fans, who will be a lot more likely to look past Woods’ “transgressions” to the top golfer he still is.
Woods’ other sponsors – those appealing to crossover fans – should be looking very closely at the value he still brings to the table, and his potential for rehabilitating his marketability in the short- to medium-term.
Gatorade has already gone. Clearly, there would be others reviewing now and perhaps commissioning some research. Gillette, for instance, would have a hard time using him as “the best a man can get” – he may still be the best a golfer can get, but man? No.
The question remains whether this will actually hurt any of his sponsors. The answer is probably not. They were all as blindsided as Woods’ fans, so could not be seen as complicit in his behaviour. This may not be the case for sponsors who decide to stay on. Depending on how the sponsor’s target market feels about Woods – and for how long – in a real reversal of roles, the sponsor could be seen to be endorsing him. The target market reaction could be very different from one sponsor to the next and reading those market right will be key to making the best decision.
More than a golfer, Woods has been a marketing phenom – earning sponsorship worth an estimated five times more than his golf wins in the past year. He is a brand, and when he signed multimillion dollar contracts linking his brand to other major brands, he signed away his right to be a dickhead and took on the responsibility of caretaking his brand.
He wants the money, he has to play the game, and that game isn’t golf.