Marketing Missy Franklin

Missy Franklin’s gold-medal performance and smile from London had corporations lining up to associate with her after she signed with WME-IMG agent Mark Ervin in March 2015. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

Mark Ervin ended his phone call, bought the table a round of drinks and booked a flight to New York. Thirteen months ago, a simple dinner with friends had been interrupted by the best business opportunity in Ervin’s career, and the WME-IMG agent was ecstatic.

The golden girl of the London Olympics, Missy Franklin, had just concluded her two-year swimming diversion at the University of California, Berkeley. And with the smile that would launch a thousand negotiations, Franklin called Ervin that night with the news: She had picked him to be her agent, choosing him over finalists from CAA, Octagon and Wasserman.

“I was happy to step away from the table and take that call,” Ervin remembers.

Hence, the round of drinks.

Further celebration would have to wait. There was work to do.

Two days later Franklin, with Ervin in tow, announced on NBC’s “Today” show that she had turned pro, unleashing a torrent of business proposals. Within a week more than 100 would land on Ervin’s desk, and many more kept coming. Franklin, who won four gold medals in London as a cheerful 17-year-old, was easily the sports marketing world’s most anticipated Olympian in a decade, and corporate America had been kept waiting while she finished high school and then competed for two more years as an amateur in college.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” Ervin said of the corporate response. “We saw a tidal wave of inquiries because of two years of pent-up demand for a really unique athlete.”

Now in his 19th year as an IMG agent, Ervin, 46, had never represented a swimmer before. But his work with skier Lindsey Vonn and snowboarder Shaun White gave him a sense of how to handle the rare Olympian who escapes the cyclical boundaries of the Games. He worked deliberately. He tried to stick to a process in spite of brands’ eagerness.

Now, barely a year after that phone call, Franklin’s portfolio for the Rio Games is set. Ervin and the rest of “Team Missy” maximized their leverage to sculpt a roster of corporate partners designed to, in Ervin’s words, help her “transcend sports,” cement her brand and create a lifetime of earning potential.

Here’s how it all came together.

Process of elimination

With Franklin’s radiant smile, close-knit family and world-class amateur history, Ervin had the flexibility to be choosy, running potential deals through a seven-point decision-making tree.

The swimwear category came first. Speedo had the inside track — she’d worn the brand since childhood and had long been on its talent scouts’ radar. Speedo also needed a hot new name to replace Michael Phelps, who signed with Aqua Sphere in 2014 after he returned from retirement.

Speedo is regarded as a lucrative sponsor for swimmers, but money is the last part of Ervin’s process when it comes to Franklin, he said. All brands under consideration had to share Franklin’s goal of inspiring people, an overarching theme of hers that Ervin first noticed while trying to sign her and then made the centerpiece of their strategy. Then deals were judged against these standards:

1. Can Missy envision herself authentically advocating for the brand?

2. Is the strength and scope of the brand sufficient to escape the limitations of the Olympics and sports in general?

3. Will the activation repeat or conflict with another sponsor? Ervin said he was aiming for a portfolio that would emphasize different parts of Franklin’s life in diverse ways without overexposing her. (At least one deal got spiked, he said, not because of a category conflict but because the activation plan was too similar to another sponsor’s.)

4. Will it leave enough time for training and rest?

5. Are social media obligations authentic and reasonable?

6. Is this a partnership or a one-off work-for-hire?

7. If the deal was still on the table after that, then they’d talk money.

Almost all of the negotiating was done by Christmas 2015, Ervin said, even if most of the deals weren’t announced until 2016.

Here’s the final portfolio: United Airlines, GoPro, Speedo, Minute Maid, Visa, Wheaties, Topps playing cards and a publishing deal with Penguin Random House. Her book, co-authored with her parents, will be released Dec. 6 for the Christmas shopping season.

When Franklin delayed her professional career out of a desire to compete in college, some experts calculated that she forfeited income from the London Games of between $2 million and $5 million. Neither Ervin nor her sponsors would discuss financial terms of her deals, but Ervin noted that Franklin’s portfolio is not designed to maximize her immediate income.

“The short-term gains have probably decreased a little bit, but when you look back three, five, 15 years later, it will have benefited her greatly,” said Ervin, who gets help on the Franklin account from WME-IMG agent Ira Stahlberger and client services manager Caitlin Tamony.

Ervin won the Franklins over with that holistic approach to her endorsements, said her mother, D.A. Franklin. From the earliest days of her competitive career, fans and swim industry veterans told the Franklins that Missy’s potential flowed from her personality as much as performance. Ervin picked up on that immediately and stood out in his pitch because he emphasized her hopes of inspiring fans.

“Mark understands Missy so well, and he buys into her being a role model,” D.A. Franklin said. “He doesn’t try to get deals closed just because it’s great money, and this is exactly what she was hoping for.”

The Franklins first started hunting for an agent early in Missy’s career at Berkeley, meeting with about a dozen contenders over lunch or dinner for preliminary talks, always flying and dining on their own dime to stay in compliance with NCAA rules. From there, they chose four agencies to make formal presentations in Berkeley as her sophomore year was winding down. (As long as nothing was promised or agreed to, Missy could evaluate her options without losing eligibility.)

It came down to two candidates, said her father, Dick Franklin, but for Missy, Ervin was the clear choice. “I truly felt a connection,” she said. “I felt like this person had similar values and similar beliefs, and was willing to dedicate himself to me.”

Her parents liked that Ervin personally has a small, “boutiquey” practice — Vonn being his other major current client — but a large agency to draw upon for help, and that his overall approach and web of corporate relationships was more important than experience representing swimmers.

Sticking to their seven-point strategy, some of Franklin’s deals are done as much for branding and visibility as for money.

Visa, for instance, generally pays all Olympic athletes the same rate (sources say in the low five figures), but many elite athletes nevertheless sign up because Visa’s worldwide Olympic rights, traditionally strong creative and deep commitment to the Games will benefit them individually. Wheaties also serves more as an awareness play than a big income-generator, experts say.

Consider the timing of the activations, too, and how they help Franklin stay in the public eye consistently but not excessively heading into Rio.

GoPro is documenting her preparation for the Games and has one video in market now, with two more scheduled for online release this summer. As official Olympics sponsors, United, Minute Maid and Visa will be able to easily activate during the Games. Wheaties might put her on the cereal box after the Games. Speedo is hoping to keep her name in stores for years, and GoPro is counting on further Franklin content in the future. Some of the deals extend through the 2020 Tokyo Games, Ervin said.

Franklin’s income for the Rio cycle will reach about $3 million, according to industry sources familiar with these kinds of endorsement deals. But her lifetime income could soar much higher if she continues to perform at high levels.

“Ervin is doing a great job doing everything he can,” said Evan Morgenstein, an agent who has represented numerous Olympic swimmers, including Dara Torres, Amanda Beard and Cullen Jones. “He gets an A on this. … It’s not about Ervin anymore. He’s done his job very well. Now it’s up to Missy.”

Window of opportunity

Franklin’s been asked if she regrets not going pro in 2012 more times than she can count, and the answer is still the same now that she’s cashed a few checks: “I’d make the same decision one hundred times over again,” she says.

But it’s hard not to reconsider the answer. Swimming insiders generally think teenage amateur Katie Ledecky has surpassed Franklin as Team USA’s top female swimmer. Franklin didn’t win any of her four individual events at the 2015 world championships; Ledecky, on the other hand, won four individual world titles last year.

Franklin certainly will be a prominent part of NBC’s coverage of Team USA, but if she underperforms that won’t last, said Morgenstein, whose client list these days consists primarily of volleyball players and retired Olympians. Some sponsors might also reconsider her role.

“All these things are nice, but how many of them are going to continue to promote her if Katie Ledecky runs the table and Missy Franklin doesn’t have the Olympics she thinks she’s going to have?” he said.

Sponsors say they’re not worried. Franklin is still the biggest name on Team USA able to sign marketing contracts. And she’s already bigger than any given race, said Dina Gerson, Coca-Cola’s director of Olympic marketing, who first cultivated a relationship with her in 2011.

Wheaties and Visa are two of the eight companies that have signed on to support Franklin. For a list her marketing deals heading into Rio, click here.

Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid brand will use Franklin and her parents in its “Doin’ Good” marketing campaign designed to remind parents of their positive role in their children’s lives. The Franklins are “the true embodiment of our campaign,” and competition results won’t change that, Gerson said.

“Missy and her parents are a part of our family, now and always,” Gerson said. “At the end of the day, it’s truly not just about the medals for us.”

Speedo also is operating on the premise that Franklin is a star regardless of how Rio goes. It’s enlisted her collaboration on a new line of Speedo swimwear set for release in late 2016 or early 2017, said Speedo USA President Jim Gerson (no relation to Dina). For now, Speedo is using her as both a member of Team Speedo to market competition suits, and as a spokeswoman for Speedo Fit, a new line targeting casual fitness

enthusiasts who could be convinced to use swimming to stay in shape.

“I think she’ll become well-known for who she is and what she stands for,” Jim Gerson said. “I know in my heart she’ll perform well, but they’ll really love who she is, and that’s just as important.”

Is any of the marketing pressure getting to Franklin?

She says no, even if she’s acutely aware of contractual performance incentives and the multiplier effect of a big Olympic Games. “If I’m going to race harder knowing I’m going to get more money, I should not be racing,” she says. “That’s not why I race.”

Should Franklin bounce back from her recent frustrations in international competition and win multiple gold medals again, she could become one of the most famous Olympians of all time in short order, according to Matt Delzell, managing director of The Marketing Arm.

According to The Marketing Arm’s Celebrity DBI, a survey-based ranking of awareness and appeal, 32 percent of American consumers recognize Franklin, a percentage similar to Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan or “Shark Tank” star Lori Greiner. That’s good, Delzell said, but here’s the real surprise: That’s up from 2014.

Consumers who know Franklin think especially highly of her. She’s rated No. 213 on trust, about the same as retired NFL coach and commentator Tony Dungy and golfer Jack Nicklaus. In the “aspiration” category, she ranks at No. 119, near Tina Fey and David Beckham.

“Considering she has not done a lot of endorsement or commercial work, these are 95 percent performance based,” Delzell said. “That in itself is impressive. If she can live up to the hype and do what she did in London in 2016 in Rio, these numbers will absolutely take a tremendous leap.”

Cultivating the deal

Ervin wasn’t starting from zero. Missy, her parents and even some sponsors started to lay the groundwork for these deals before she’d ever competed in a major international competition.

The Minute Maid deal first started to develop in the spring of 2011, several months before the 2011 world championships in which Franklin won her first individual world title at age 16. Olympic swimming hall of famer Rowdy Gaines responded to a call from Coca-Cola’s Gerson with some advice about Missy, still just 15 years old at the time: Pay attention to this girl. She’s something really special.

Gaines introduced Gerson to Franklin’s parents, which led to an hourlong phone call with Franklin just before her 16th birthday. They met in person at the Women’s Sports Foundation gala later that year, and the connection was born.

Gerson’s approach “made it very clear that she was even more proud of who I was than what I was accomplishing in the pool,” Franklin said.

“You know, I think she saw the real me … and felt connected to that, and I felt connected to her. I was really grateful for that relationship, because it showed me what it should feel like moving forward.”

Coca-Cola removed her from consideration for its London campaigns, knowing the Franklins had long planned to delay her professional debut until after a stint in college. But they stayed in touch, and the Minute Maid deal was locked up late last summer.

“She was well worth the wait,” Gerson said. “She’s the happiest athlete I’ve ever met. She’s always positive. I can’t say enough about how great she is. The world knows it now, but back then she was a newbie to the scene.”

Speedo’s network of coaches had picked Franklin out years earlier as well.

The tight-knit Franklin clan was also thinking through Missy’s professional strategy years before they even knew who Mark Ervin was. Her parents are both highly educated professionals — mother D.A. is a physician, and father Dick was an executive at Head Sports, Reebok and Coors — and kept a level head about her potential.

If anything, the decision to delay professionalism was harder on Dick than Missy. Missy had zero qualms, but Dick knew she was passing on enough money to pay for a house, cover her children’s education and set her up for life. “So we said, ‘If you want to do this, go to Berkeley and say no to XYZ, we’re going to support you on this,’” he remembers. “‘But know there are financial implications for this — it might be here today, gone tomorrow.’ We’ve always kept a levelheadedness about all of that, but she’s been very much the driver of her own decisions.”

Even today, Dick’s philosophy and vision guides the Team Missy strategy. Early on, he preached restraint and the importance of substantive partnerships with brands. “I don’t want her to be NASCAR,” he says, an edict she repeats word for word independently.

Franklin first won the hearts of Olympic fans for her genuine gee-whiz, is-this-really-my-life persona in London. Endorsement checks haven’t changed that — she called Speedo’s glitzy December event to show off its new suits “the coolest thing I’ve ever done.” And if the added pressure of representing worldwide brands in the pool is bothering her, she won’t admit to it.

“There’s two ways to look at outside pressure: expectations or support,” she said, echoing advice she once received from Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman. “And in my mind, having all these companies now, that’s support.”