The intersection between pop culture and sports is tighter than ever, but still fraught with missteps and overreaching ambitions, according to panelists yesterday at the '14 CSE Sports Sponsorship Symposium in N.Y. Thanks to crossover successes such as Shaquille O'Neal, more athletes than ever want to become active in acting, singing, investment and marketing endeavors, in addition to their on-court careers. An active interest among lifestyle publications such as GQ and Esquire in chronicling athletes' lives only expands those goals. But panelists agreed that strategically plotting such desires is critical. "Everybody wants to do everything," said CSE VP/Talent Representation Matt Kramer. “But you have to harness and direct all that. Not everybody should be a rapper or a singer or an actor." Still, athlete interests in pop culture represent a potent way to expand their personal brands well beyond the scope of their on-field careers. And for entertainers, getting more involved in professional sports investment represents one of the most potent moves they can make from a financial perspective. "One of the biggest pieces of advice to entertainers is that getting into sports ownership is one of the best things they can do relative to ROI if they are patient," Kramer said. Going forward, digital platforms such as mobile and YouTube will represent a particularly fertile ground for athlete forays into pop culture and marketing. "I think we're at just the start of seeing some really interesting things in that area," said The Big Lead Founder Jason McIntyre. “The (viral) videos the Manning brothers have done for DirecTV are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Quick Hits:
**The session was dominated by discussion around NFL, NBA and WNBA athletes, with barely a mention of anybody from MLB. "We've been here for 45 minutes and we haven't talked baseball once," McIntyre said. "What does that say?" Kramer responded that marketers increasingly want to tap into athletes' off-field lives, something less possible in baseball given the everyday nature of the game schedules.
**TV dominates. "Media personalities are now bigger than 95, 97 percent of the pro athletes out there. They're in everybody's homes," Kramer said.
**Local marketing is ripe for expansion. "Working a local level with multiple athletes can mitigate the risk from a big, national level with a single athlete and what can happen if there's an issue with that particular guy," said Thuzio co-Founder and former NFLer Tiki Barber. "But the metrics, and measuring what' s happening locally, is more difficult."
