Menu
Marketing and Sponsorship

Nike Capitalizing On Lin's Popularity With New Ad Campaign

Nike will soon “roll out a new promotional campaign built around” Knicks G Jeremy Lin, the “first of what is expected to be a parade of endorsements" featuring Lin, according to sources cited by Joel Siegel of ABC NEWS. Estimates of Lin's economic impact “begin at tens of millions of dollars, and reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, especially if he continues to perform at a high level.” SportsCorp President Marc Ganis said, "This hurricane of 'Linsanity' has swept across not just the fans of the NBA, but also across the nation, and to a significant degree, it has engulfed China and parts of Asia as well. I don't believe we have ever seen anything like it" (ABCNEWS.com, 2/15). Roger Montgomery, Lin’s agent, said that he has “assembled a team to maximize" endorsement possibilities. Montgomery said, “Jeremy is going to take his time. He’s grounded. He’s not trying to own the world.” In San Antonio, Buck Harvey writes Montgomery is “as stunning a story in his field as Lin is in his.” Montgomery has had “a number of clients over the years,” but his only current NBA player besides Lin is Wizards G Maurice Evans. Montgomery: “Sometimes you need that one player who catapults your career” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 2/16).

HOT ON THE MARKET
: Modell’s Sporting Goods CEO Mitchell Modell said that in the past 48 hours, he has “secured 168,000 items with ‘Lin’ or ‘Linsanity’ on it, including everything from jerseys in every size to t-shirts to towels with his name and number on it.” CNBC.com’s Darren Rovell notes because Lin became “so hot so fast, Modell has had to secure blank items and then pay a printer to customize it” (CNBC.com, 2/16). In L.A., Ben Bolch noted “roughly 1,500 Jeremy Lin replica jerseys were on sale Wednesday when doors opened" before the Kings-Knicks game. MSG Merchandise Supervisor Betty Jackson said that authentic jerseys "are still on order” (LATIMES.com, 2/15). In N.Y., Claire Atkinson writes Lin continues to “drive up ticket prices and T-shirt sales.” The Modell’s Sporting Goods location in Time Square “had to get a rush delivery of Lin gear” (N.Y. POST, 2/16). In L.A., Tiffany Hsu noted Lin’s jerseys “are selling better than any other player’s jerseys except for those of” Heat F LeBron James and Lakers G Kobe Bryant (LATIMES.com, 2/15).

PROFESSIONAL DIAGNOSIS: This morning’s edition of NBC’s “Today” featured a discussion about Lin during the “Today’s Professionals” segment. NBC’s Matt Lauer asked the panel, “Raise your hand if you have a case of ‘Linsanity?’” All three panelists raised their hands, with NBC News Chief Medical Editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman saying people love his story because Lin is an “econ major from Harvard, dumped by a couple of teams, Asian-American, not the biggest guy and he’s made a non-team a team.” TV personality Star Jones said Lin and the team are “playing with heart, that’s the one thing we’ve been missing since Patrick Ewing.” Deutsch Inc. Chair Donny Deutsch added, “Just to bring in politics, where the 1% and the 99% can agree: To the 1%, he’s a Harvard kid. To the 99%, he’s an underdog and it just brings everybody together” (“Today,” NBC, 2/16).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS: NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "Late Show" last night mentioned Lin several times throughout the shows. NBC’s Jay Leno in his monologue said, “The Chinese Vice President, Xi Jinping, visited President Obama at the White House yesterday. ... Do you know why he came to the United States? Oh gosh, there must be 15 trillion reasons. I thought this was nice: While he was at the White House, the Chinese vice president showed pictures of his children and the factories where they work. While he was there, it looks like President Obama may have significantly reduced our trade deficit with China. While he was at the White House, President Obama sold the Chinese vice president one billion Jeremy Lin jerseys at fifty bucks apiece” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 2/15). Meanwhile, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart appeared on “Late Show” last night and came out on-stage holding a copy of the N.Y. Post. Stewart displayed the cover, which featured Lin and the headline, “ThrilLIN’.” Stewart: “I just wanted to show you, for the people who haven’t seen this, ‘ThrilLin’.’ But if you take away the Lin puns, this is what you end up with.” Stewart flipped the paper over and showed the back page which featured the headline “AMASIAN!” Stewart: “Is that even legal?” Letterman: “Yeah, I’m glad I didn’t say that.” Stewart: “I know! It’d be like when Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game, you just wrote on there ‘JEWTIFUL!’ … I feel like it’s very ‘Lin-sensitive.’” Also, the show's Top Ten list was “Top Ten Worst Jeremy Lin Puns” (“Late Show,” CBS, 2/15).

10) “Lin-termittent windshield wiper.”
9) “Law and Order: Criminal Lin-tent.”
8) “Ange-Lin-A Jol-emy.”
7) “Lin-ternational House of Lin-Cakes.”
6) “Newt Lin-grich.”
5) “Lin-terest-bearing Lin-vestment grade financial Lin-strument.”
4) “Does this look Lin-fected to you?”
3) “Jere-meat sauce with Lin-guine.”
2) “Kni-xual Lin-tercourse.”
1) “You gotta be Lin it to Lin it.”

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/02/16/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Lin-Mkting.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/02/16/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Lin-Mkting.aspx

CLOSE