Brand it like Beckham
The carefully constructed million-dollar image of David and Victoria Beckham has taken a battering by the leaking of emails revealing the glamorous couple may be less wholesome than they would like their fans to believe, as ELLEN WHINNETT reports from Lon
THEY built a half-abillion dollar brand based on themselves – the handsome soccer superstar, the glamorous pop princess and their brood of photogenic kids.
But David and Victoria Beckham’s perfect facade has been hit by revelations his charity work was being used as part of a cynical attempt to land himself a knighthood.
Brand Beckham, the carefully-managed image used to sell the couple to the public and their sponsors, has been tarnished by the emergence of emails showing Beckham launching a foul-mouthed tirade against the honours committee after it overlooked him for a knighthood back in 2014.
The tantrum was discovered among 18.6 million emails and documents hacked from the Portugal-based servers used by Beckham’s PR agency, Doyen Global, and which were allegedly used to blackmail the former Manchester United star.
When Beckham refused to pay $1.6 million, the documents were released through the Football Leaks website, a sport equivalent of Wikileaks, and given to media outlets in Europe including France’s Le Monde and German’s Der Spiegel.
“They’re a bunch of c***s I expected nothing less ... Who decides on the honors? It’s a disgrace to be honest and if I was American I would of got something like this 10 years ago ... It’s p****d me off those old unappreciative c***s,’’ Beckham raged to his public relations agent Simon Oliveira when he found out his bid to become Sir David had failed.
He had been nominated by sporting legend Lord Sebastian Coe in 2013 for services to sport and charity and was set to receive the gong when Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – the British tax office – put a “red flag’’ on Beckham’s tax affairs, over concerns about some of his tax minimisation strategies. There is no suggestion he has engaged in any sort of illegal behaviour.
In other nuggets buried among the “Beckileaks’’ emails are revelations the soccer squillionaire demanded a private jet to attend a BBC show, and unhappiness about a suggestion by Oliveira that he put $1 million of his own money into a UNICEF dinner.
“I don’t want to put my personal money into this cause … To pour this million into the fund is like putting my own money in. If there was no fund, the money would be for me. This f****** money is mine,’’ onee email read. The Beckhams’ spokesman said the emails had been taken out of context, and showed that David Beckham was a normal person who was disappointed not to have received a knighthood.
“This story is based on outdated material taken out of context from hacked and doctored private emails from a third party server and gives a deliberately inaccurate picture,’’ the spokesman said. The saga is one of the more serious blows to hit both the marriage and the combined business interests of David and Victoria Beckham, who wed in 1999. The pair have built an empire worth around half a billion dollars, in recent years through 41-year-old David Beckham’s sponsorships – his image is used to flog everything from Adidas and H&M clothing to Breitlin watches and Sky TV packages. His 42-year-old wife, who made her name as a pop star in the 90s in the Spice Girls, has since reinvented herself as a fashion designer and style setter, although her fashion label is still running up losses. The pair also pulled in huge money through the ‘90s and 2000s through Victoria’s recording and appearance contracts and David’s massive salaries as he moved from Manchester United to teams including Real Madrid in Spain and LA Galaxy in the US. He also played for England. The pair’s gorgeouslooking children – Brooklyn, 17, Romeo, 14, Cruz, 11 and daughter Harper, 5, now form part of their marketing pack- age, and are featured on the couple’s social media channels as they promote their healthy, hip and squeaky-clean image.
Leah Gillooly, a sports marketing expert from the University of Manchester, said she believed Brand Beckham would survive, because of the public’s strong affection for Beckham.
“In my opinion, any revelations such as these are potentially damaging for a brand,’’ Dr Gillooly said.
“However, in this case I don’t believe that there will be significant or long-term damage to Brand Beckham, particularly in terms of sponsors and marketability.
“There is a lot of public affection for David Beckham and therefore I expect that these revelations won’t have a significant impact on how people view him and his brand.
“From a sponsor’s point of view, the majority of his sponsors value him for his footballing talent, physical attractiveness and values as a family man. None of these are threatened by the revelations so I don’t expect sponsors to be put off.’’
Dr Gillooly said the work David Beckham had done for a variety of charities and assisting the world Cup and Olympic Games bids had garnered him significant public support.
“In my view, this will probably temper any dissatisfaction that the public have regarding the allegations.’’
She said Brand Beckham was “undoubtedly one of the most successful personal brands that had been created in recent times.’’
“This is down, at least in part, to very clever marketing on the part of David and Victoria Beckham and their advisers,’’ she said.
“The public like to feel that they can relate to and build relationships with the brands that they buy into and both David and Victoria Beckham have worked hard to communicate their brand values through their activities, public appearances and social media.
“Whether or not he is Sir Beckham won’t make much difference to how he is perceived by the public.’’
For 20 years, “Posh’’ (her Spice Girl nickname) and Becks have been Britain’s highest-profile celebrity couple, with only the royal family garnering more headlines or column inches.
But there was no posing for the media camped outside the family home in London this week, as Victoria was rushed to Heathrow Airport for a firstclass flight to the US, where she surfaced in New York for business meetings relating to her fashion label.
Never one to miss a marketing opportunity, she stepped out in a range of outfits from her yet-to-be-released latest VBL collection as the paparazzi stalked her around Manhattan.
Throughout their 17-year marriage, she has had to put on a brave face to weather several storms not of her making – including the release in 2004 of steamy text messages which purported to show Beckham had been having an affair with his personal assistant Rebecca Loos.
The Beckhams never denied the story, but refused to address it directly, and their marriage stayed intact.
They have hired a top cybersecurity firm, Marclay Advisers, to get to the bottom of the hacking of the firm’s emails servers, and Oliveira is reported to have been talking to British police about launching an investigation.