Let the marketing gold rush begin
Media-savvy athletes try to strike while the iron is hot
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – In the 10-day break between his gold medal in men’s slopestyle and the qualifying heats for Saturday’s big air final, snowboarder Red Gerard went from the hills of Phoenix Park to the sets of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Live With Kelly and Ryan, Extra, CBS National News and SportsCenter, where he was celebrated as one of the early American stars of the Winter Games.
“I’ve never really had anything like that. It was crazy,” said Gerard, 17. “People coming up to me asking for autographs. Going on Jimmy Kimmel. There was so much stuff like that where I’m not used to it happening.”
Every two years, American competitors look to monetize their Olympic success through appearances, books, television shows and sponsorships. Unlike professional athletes in the four major North American sports, Olympians
Olympians can burst onto the scene and just as quickly fade from view
can burst onto the scene and just as quickly fade from view — so they strike at the height of their marketability, in the weeks and months after the Games.
And despite a mediocre showing overall from Team USA, several U.S. Olympians will have the chance to branch out into the mainstream. Gerard already has made his move. Snowboarding sensation Chloe Kim, also 17, might be the Games’ breakout star. Jesse Diggins claimed the USA’s first gold medal in cross-country competition, along with 35-year-old Kikkan Randall. The men’s curling team has become a sensation. The women’s hockey team, and the game-winning goal notched by Jocelyne Lamoreux, should grace the cover of a Wheaties box.
More than any past Olympians, this group inhabits a landscape driven by social media and by the ability to personalize their message to a rapidly growing set of followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and elsewhere.
Kim, for example, was first noticed not for her gold medal in halfpipe but for a tweet: “Wish I finished my breakfast sandwich but my stubborn self decided not to and now I’m getting hangry,” she wrote midway through competition. California Pizza Kitchen, Roy Rogers and Oreo, among others, quickly tweeted back their support, not to mention offers of nourishment.
“Every brand is following social media,” said Bob Dorfman, the creative director at Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco. “They all have these war rooms where they’re kind of trying to respond in real time to what’s going on. It’s huge and only going to get bigger.”
To bridge the gap from one Olympics to the next demands not just tweets and posts but a permanent place in the public eye — and for athletes, that means sponsorships.
“Olympians always have the same problem,” Dorfman said. “You’ve got these athletes that are popular for these four weeks every four years.”
Being young helps. The two 17-yearold stars, Gerard and Kim, have at least one more Winter Games in their future and will head into the 2022 Beijing Games with a level of name recognition. Brands see younger athletes and gauge the potential for longevity. Gerard and Kim are blossoming at the right time, just as established U.S. star such as Lindsay Vonn and Shaun White come to the end of their Olympic careers.
They also see authenticity. Kim didn’t captivate viewers solely for her snowboarding; she drew in the public with her personality, too.
“Their brand message is authentic. Their followers are authentic,” said Joe Favorito, a veteran sports media consultant. “Now more than ever people are looking for authenticity and a return on investment.”
That the new U.S. stars of the Pyeongchang Games lean young — at 28, figure skater Adam Rippon is the oldest of the breakout performers — also pre- sents a conundrum: Athletes such as Kim and Gerard can speak to the under-30 crowd, but can their success translate to the older and wealthier demographic coveted by major companies and advertisers?
When it comes to sponsorships, maybe it doesn’t matter. Second-tier brands such as the energy drink Monster may not carry the same cachet as Coca-Cola or McDonald’s, but they do cater to a certain sort of consumer — younger, active and more likely to be swayed by advertisements featuring an athlete in their age bracket.
The challenge is to balance the benefits of Olympic triumph — fame and money — with maintaining their athletic success. Winning made these U.S. Olympians marketable, and winning will keep it that way.
“If you’re ice skating, nobody is really paying attention to ice skating in these four years between the next Games,” Dorfman said. “You sort of have to balance dedication to the sport with trying to build an audience and maintaining your audience.”