After the Giants' victory in Super Bowl XLVI, companies “did not wait to seize” the popularity of WR Victor Cruz, but he is now balancing "an avalanche of demands from the news media, fans, endorsers and advertisers,” according to Zach Schonbrun of the N.Y. TIMES. To handle the demand, Cruz “signed with the marketing giant IMG,” and now has “endorsement deals with Pepsi, Campbell’s Soup, Time Warner Cable and Got Milk.” But he said that he has “turned down dozens of offers.” Cruz’ marketing agent Carlos Fleming “described his promotional approach with Cruz as ‘gradual,’ despite what seemed to be a flood of appearances.” Fleming said, “We’ve declined a lot of opportunities that either didn’t make sense strategically or just really we felt like it might take too much of his time and become too much of a distraction.” Schonbrun wrote Cruz has now “grown deeply conscious of his image.” Cruz: “I want it to be positive. I never want anything negative to come and infiltrate my image. As much as I’m human and things may happen, I want it to remain as positive as possible and just keep my nose clean” (N.Y. TIMES, 8/12).
