Blogging Athletes Create "Tricky" Situation For Endorsers

Arenas' Blogging Helping Him Land More Endorsement Deals

When Wizards G Gilbert Arenas wrote on his blog that "he wasn't impressed" with his new adidas shoe, company execs "learned that day what an increasing number of marketers have found -- that pitchmen armed with a blog can be tricky," according to Stephanie Kang of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Several athletes "have seen their online comments turn into public-relations debacles," and Sports Business Group President David Carter said blogs "can either help elevate the status of the companies or it can wreak havoc on the brands they work with." adidas Head of  Global Basketball PR Travis Gonzolez indicated that the company "wasn't happy" with Arenas' criticism. Arenas has also "complemented certain sneaker styles" by Nike and Starbury despite his own deal with adidas.  Gonzolez: "We all took a step back. We said 'It's Gil being Gil and there's not a lot we can say.' We don't want to affect what he writes." adidas reworked the design with Arenas, and said that "it benefited from" his commentary.  Kang writes Arenas' blog has given him "a heightened profile that has helped him win new endorsement deals." Both EA Sports and Spalding said that they chose Arenas "in part because they believed his blog would appeal to younger consumers." adidas, EA Sports and Spalding "each say that whether an athlete blogs, and how they can work together with the blog, will be a part of future endorsement negotiations."  While his early posts "focused on basketball, he has lately been dropping more references to his marketers," including using the blog to alert fans to an upcoming adidas and EA Sports "golden ticket" promotion dangling a free pair of shoes.  But that promotion never happened, and neither did a co-promotion between adidas and Benihana that Arenas featured in his blog. Gonzolez acknowledged that "no one ... informed Arenas that the ideas were scrapped"  (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/4).