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December 15, 2009

Tiger Woods Brand Name is in the Rough

The Tiger Woods scandal cannot be ignored anymore in these pages. Jokes and moral ranting aside, what is unfolding now is a case study in how a top athlete's personal behavior affects his endorsement power.

And the value of the Woods name seems to be going down. I'm surprised, because a couple weeks ago most of the industry experts thought this would not affect his profile.

But reports are already coming in that Nike products bearing the Woods name are not moving as fast out of the stores. And The New Yorker predicts that few people will want to "be a Tiger" anytime soon not only because of his personal mishaps, but also the lack of discipline he has shown in bedding a series of comical bimbos followed by driving his car into a tree.

This stuff is the absolute antithesis of the kind of focus and control he is known for on the course.

Kate Moss may get her comeback after we discovered she was a druggie, but deep down we didn't expect more of her. Models do drugs, this is no surprise. Tiger, on the other hand, was all about grace and focus under pressure. This is what his name once stood for and why we paid to have it on apparel, cereals and shaving products.

The fallout is that nearly 4 out of 10 Americans have a negative view of the man and companies are starting to take note. As one ad executive says:

It's not surprising to see brands begin to disassociate themselves from Tiger, as his image has been seriously tarnished from the events over the past two weeks. Brands associate with personalities because of their aspirational association with consumers. Any endorsement associated with Tiger Woods is tainted right now.

Tainted? Susan Krashinsky in the Globe and Mail says Tiger might actually be toxic. Companies want a safe brand name to endorse them and Tiger really seemed to fit the bill. Not anymore.

Tag is reconsidering their relationship with him and Gatorade has already stopped one line of products bearing his name. Accenture, of course, has wiped him off the balance sheets.

Tiger has taught us that celebrity endorsers can misbehave up to a point... but if they misbehave in violation of the core values we associate with them, they're in the rough.

Technorati Tags: Tiger Branding, Tiger Woods, Tiger Gatorade, Tiger Endorsements, Tiger Woods Brand Name

Posted by William Lozito at December 15, 2009 8:07 AM
Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Industry | Sports and Recreation

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