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How Shaq enlisted as the first pitchman for The General

Shaquille O’Neal’s new endorsement deal with The General insurance brand could be described as a “top-down” arrangement. Still, Shaq had a big part in the arrangement.

It all started when The General’s parent company, American Family Insurance, hired Shaq through agency IdeaQuest, as a speaker for a company gathering last year. As part of the arrangement, Shaq dined with AFI Chairman and CEO Jack Salzwedel. When the conversation inevitably turned to insurance, Shaq professed not to know much about the business but did express some affection for The General, a down-market insurance brand, which he used during his college days.

Shaquille O’Neal shoots a spot for The General, in which he interacts with the insurance brand’s animated spokesman.
Photo by: COURTESY OF AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE (2)
When Salzwedel informed him that AFI purchased that brand in 2013, Shaq started singing the jingle and imploring the CEO to be in its ads. Other than The General animated character, the brand never used a celebrity endorser.
Apparently, Shaq can be as convincing at the dining table as he used to be in the paint, because TV ads featuring Shaq and The General will debut next month across a multitude of cable networks.

The ads were shot at Turner’s Atlanta studios in late April.

The multiyear deal marks the first time Shaq has backed an insurance brand.

“Shaq cuts across so many demos; he has high recognition and likability,” said Andrew Martin, The General’s senior vice president of marketing, adding that more ads will be shot in September and January. “As a down-market brand, we’d like to see the trust in our brand increase across all [demographic] sectors, and we feel Shaq will help there also.”

The 7-1 Shaq interacts with the pint-sized General, and we’re told he even attempted some jingle singing during the shoot. However, it’s uncertain whether that crooning will make the final cut for the two ads, which were still being finalized last week.

Martin acknowledged that his company was considering a NASCAR team sponsorship when “Shaq fell into our lap. After we met with him and [agent] Perry Rogers, it just seemed right.”

Rogers added, “If you look at what Shaq’s done with [affordable athletic] shoes, this is a very similar play.”

Rogers said he’s also looking for Shaq hookups in the financial services, quick-service restaurant and snack categories to match his long-term deals with Chattem (Icy Hot and Gold Bond brands); Turner (a new five-year extension begins this fall); Arizona, which markets various Shaq-branded beverages; and Reebok, which sells Shaq footwear.

> PIZZA OF THE ACTION: Papa John’s intellectual property rights across sports include top-shelf properties like the NFL, MLB and a multitude of team and college deals, more than 150 in total. The brand’s endorsement roster is no less impressive, with stars like Peyton Manning, J.J. Watt and Troy Aikman.

Still, it always seemed that media was the lead dog and sponsorship activation was a secondary concern, since they were engineered by media buyers or as part of a large media buy. We’d expect that to change now, with Genesco Sports Enterprises landing the account. The first internal assignment was an in-house sports summit in Louisville, Ky., Papa John’s hometown. Genesco’s first consumer-facing assignment will be activation at the July 12 MLB All-Star Game in San Diego, according to baseball sources.

 
New Era, which has new caps ready for the All-Star Game, has hired CAA Sports.
> CAPPING IT OFF: New Era is another brand with a multitude of team and athlete rights (more than 40 pro team sponsorships and 25-plus athlete endorsers), as well as being the official headwear of MLB and the NFL. Now, the company has hired CAA Sports as its first sports, fashion and entertainment agency of record.

“New Era and CAA are both deeply into sport, fashion and entertainment, so this made sense, as far as broadening our scope across all of those areas,” said Josh Feine, who came over from the Buffalo Bills recently to become New Era’s first vice president of sports marketing and corporate partnerships. “CAA will help us move cross platform. We do very well on the field. This will help us move and be more significant off the field as a brand as well.”

Said CAA’s Greg Luckman: “New Era has so many touch points across pop culture and sports, we believe that makes it a great fit for both of us.”

> COMINGS & GOINGS: Ryan Samuelson, MLB senior director of licensing, is leaving baseball after 15 years to join the NFL as director of on-field licensing. Samuelson will begin the new gig in July. … Geoff Spies joins The Strategic Agency, New York City, as vice president, group account director. Spies had been director of sponsorship and promotions at MetLife for seven-plus years.

Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

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