What brand dragons can learn from the contrasting personas, personalities and personal brands of soccer stars David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
An analysis of the marketing and brand campaigns of internationally renowned footballers David Beckham and Ryan Giggs could provide marketing executives with insights into how brands can be built and marketed more effectively. Writing in the International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, Canadian researchers demonstrate how elite athletes can extend their brand and how this might be applied beyond sport.
Marie-Agnès Parmentier, an expert in consumer culture at HEC Montréal, is working with Eileen Fischer of York University in Toronto, to understand how personal brands can be developed by top sportspeople on and off the field. From Tiger Woods to Tom Brady, from Alex Rodriguez to Andy Roddick, the phenomenon of high-visibility ‘person brands’ has become common across a broad spectrum of sports, the pair explains. “If a brand in general can be thought of as the associations that people make with the goods or services of a particular seller, then a personal brand can be considered to be the set of associations identified with a particular person,” they add.
The value to an athlete of creating a high-visibility brand can go well beyond the remuneration they receive from their professional performance and includes the well-known lucrative endorsement opportunities associated with the sports clothing, footwear and equipment they use in their sport. Additionally, those that are able to generate a positive image in the arena of popular culture, fashion and the media can generate income and promote other brands, during and after their sporting career. Few people in the developed world will have failed to notice the George Foreman grill promoted by the former world heavyweight champion long after he retired from career. “Even after their careers end, athletes with potent brands can benefit by lending their names to entrepreneurial endeavours,” the team explains.
The researchers have now analysed the media personas and brand equity of Beckham and Giggs. Both are acclaimed sportsmen regarded as outstanding soccer players but who have very contrasting profiles in terms of their personal brands. Beckham’s profile seems to be the most marketable of any contemporary athlete, the team adds. His brand has been compared to those of basketball player Michael Jordan, golfer Tiger Woods, and tennis player, all of whom are high profile and market and endorse products associated with their sport and well beyond. Beckham himself has, in recent years, ranked high on Forbes’ list of the most powerful, best paid, and most famous celebrities in the world.
Giggs shares many of the profile characteristics of Beckham. He plays the same sport, started shortly before Beckham, and belongs to the same team (Manchester United) that launched Beckham’s career. The two are prominent midfielders and are both close to the hearts of that team’s fans and supporters. Nevertheless, Giggs’ media profile and brand awareness is not on a par with that of David Beckham. He enjoys less media coverage in general and is associated less with popular culture beyond soccer. Giggs has never, for instance, been mentioned in People magazine, whereas Beckham has appeared in no fewer than 66 articles or discussions in that publication; it presumably helps being married to a former prominent pop star in that regard. Whereas Beckham can readily market underwear and men’s fragrances, one might suggest that Giggs’ claim to fame off the field was actually on the field in his TV show: “Ryan Giggs’ Soccer Skills”. This is despite the fact that Manchester United heralded Giggs as an image saver for soccer in general early in his career.
Giggs is a soccer star, nicknamed “Giggsy” certainly, his persona and brand, however, are on the whole limited to the world of soccer. Beckham is a star, no qualification; although you can call him “Golden Balls”.
“The on- and off-field brand-building practices of these two soccer players help us understand how people in sporting professions build brand equity,” the team explains. “Our analysis provides insights into practices that yield a better professional image and a more valuable mainstream media persona,” the researchers add. There are thus implications for athletes and those managing their brands and for those hoping to build an off-field career and income.
“How athletes build their brands” in Int. J. Sport Management and Marketing, 2012, 11, 106-124