Andy’s £30m baby brand
The new arrival will boost sponsorship deals, say experts
‘A more posh Posh and Becks’ ‘Huge number of opportunities’
THE newlyweds were already a marketer’s dream – now, with the announcement that they have a baby on the way, Andy Murray and wife Kim are poised to enter the sponsorship super-league.
Last night branding experts said the addition of a baby to the Murray household would dramatically increase the tennis star’s marketability, allowing him to earn £30million a year in sponsorship deals alone.
The way was now clear, they said, for Andy Murray and Kim Sears to become an upmarket version of the Beckhams.
Former Wimbledon champion Murray, 28, and Miss Sears, 27, disclosed the happy news to close family members last week and the pregnancy was made public on Thursday. The baby, due in February, will be a first grandchild for Murray’s divorced parents Judy and William.
From a marketing point of view, he or she will complete the ‘Brand Murray’ package, giving i t massive earning potential.
Sports marketing and sponsorship consultant Nigel Currie predicted the arrival of a child would add 50 per cent to Murray’s marketability. That follows an estimated 30 per cent increase to his earning power after he married Miss Sears in April.
I t means that Murray’s previous sponsorship income of around £15million a year could now double.
Mr Currie said: ‘The products he’s able to promote and become an ambassador for are increased dramatically by the addition of an attractive wife and family. It broadens the media appeal and with that comes a greater scope of attractiveness f or marketers and dif f erent brands.’
He added: ‘You’ve got to say the Beckhams are in a league of their own and they were an absolute phenomenon, but the Murrays are certainly going to be up there.
‘The sport of tennis is one of the most global sports there is, it reaches all parts of the world and if you’re in the top three of that sport you’re a huge global figure.’
Mr Currie said it was significant that Murray works with Simon Fuller, the manager who looked after David and Victoria Beckham, and who also handles Grand Prix star Lewis Hamilton.
He added: ‘Basically they’ll be looking to exploit the whole avenue of different media that find the celebrity couple and celebrity family much more interesting than just a sort of tennis player.
‘The long and short of it is it just opens up a huge new number of opportunities in terms of different media that will find him more interesting now.’
Another marketing guru, Rikard Svendsen of The Brand Specialist said the arrival of a baby could transform the Murrays into ‘a more posh Posh and Becks’.
He said: ‘ Murray is not just a young kid any more. So he can start selling, you know, a Jaguar, which probably before he was a bit young to do. Now that he is married with a kid on the way he falls into that category. A lot more people can start identifying with him.’
He added: ‘ If you’re going to sell into the luxury market the Murrays are far more the kind than the Beckhams.
‘It’s a smaller market but the margins are much higher so you don’t have to shift as many products. Your fees can be higher, too, even though you might not have as many contracts.’
There were, understandably, rather different concerns at the Dunblane home of Murray’s father William, the grandfather-to-be.
He joked: ‘I hope that the baby has Kim’s l ooks and Andy’s sporting ability, and not the other way round.’
Mr Murray, 60, added: ‘ We’re delighted. We’re all really thrilled. It’s great news.
‘We haven’t seen them yet, but they called us a couple of weeks ago to tell us. Both Kim and Andy called, so that was great. They are both thrilled and can’t wait to be parents. I’m just so happy and they were excited to tell us the good news.
‘They called us once they knew that everything was okay with the scan, which it was.’ Mr Murray said that he was no in doubt his son and daughter in l aw would make ‘great parents’.
He added: ‘I can’t wait to be a grandfather – babysitting and all.
‘I don’t mind if it’s a boy or a girl – all we are hoping for is a healthy baby, and I know that’s what Andy and Kim will be praying for as well.
‘After the wedding in Dunblane, when it was incredible to see the number of people who turned out to wish Andy and Kim well, I know the locals will be over the moon at this latest news.’
Murray’s mother Judy, who starred in Strictly Come Dancing, is also said to be ecstatic, having admitted only a few weeks ago she was dreaming of being a ‘ very active granny, for sure’.
Sussex-born Miss Sears is the daughter of Nigel Sears, the former head of women’s tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association. She met Murray at the US Open in 2005.
Since then Murray has transformed himself from a gangly teenager prone to flashes of ill temper on the court to a clean-cut sporting hero popular across the world.
He and Miss Sears live in Surrey with their two Border terriers, Maggie May and Rusty.