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It never Wayne’s…the dangers of personal endorsement

Sport

Another day and another controversy about one of the UK’s leading sports personalities. The speculation surrounding footballer Wayne Rooney’s private life is another demonstration of the risks that companies must prepare for when putting all their marketing spend into a personality.

So far none of Rooney’s personal sponsors have waivered with Nike, Coca-Cola and EA Sports all standing firm in support of the Englishman. “This is a private matter for Wayne and his family”, is the preferred line for most, neatly siphoned from their “PR Basics” handbook, but the recent example of Tiger Woods shows that even the most loyal of sponsors can get itchy feet, especially when the reputation of their brands is being brought into question.

For Wayne Rooney, that time has not yet come, but his performances on and off the pitch in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland tomorrow will have to be flawless to prevent a public backlash. The public, particularly football fans, are the reason why brands such as EA Sports pay a premium to use the likes of Rooney as brand ambassadors. Fans = Sales. When the public faith in expensive ambassadors starts to drop off, then those who hold the purse-strings start to ask awkward questions.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with brands wanting to align themselves with leading international sports stars, in fact it can be immensely lucrative, but there can be serious downsides in the event of trouble away from the field of play. Living life under the persistent intensity of the media spotlight will inevitably stir up trouble at some point. Footballers tend to attract such headlines –look in the handbook under T for Terry, John – but even F1 stars have seen their name steered out of the sports pages and into the main news. Lewis Hamilton’s ‘hooning’ in Melbourne at this year’s Australian Grand Prix is another example.

Reading Sky News website’s coverage of the Rooney incident and you will see just how much money is attached to the UK’s leading sports personalities under the age of 30. And it is an F1 star who tops the money tree with an estimated £43m earned by Jenson Button (who actually turned 30 back in January). The rest of the list runs as follows:

2. Michael Owen (£40m)

3. Lewis Hamilton (£35m)

4. Wayne Rooney (£33m)

5. John Terry (£20m)

6. Andy Murray (£15m)

7. Joe Cole (£14m)

8. Petr Cech (£13m)

Personal endorsements of sports personalities can be money well spent, but it takes only the slightest sniff of a scandal to undo years of hard work and risk millions in lost revenue. Crisis management is a well known essential in the PR world, but it is pre-empting them is even more important in the sports world.

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