Nastia Liukin’s Agent: “She Can Be Bigger Than Mary Lou
Not long after Nastia Liukin won gold in the women’s gymnastics all around, her agent Evan Morgenstein escorted her mother down to see her. As mother and daughter hugged, Nastia’s father, Valeri, spoke to Morgenstein.
“I did what I needed to do,” he said. “Now you do what you need to do.”
Morgenstein, who repeated that story a day later, said he is focused on building Liukin’s brand so that it lasts forever.
“I think she can be bigger than Mary Lou Retton,” Morgenstein said, adding that the 18-year-old has tied the American record for gymnastics medals in a single Olympics of five set by Retton in 1984 and duplicated by Shannon Miller in 1992.
Morgenstein's immediate plans for helping Liukin capitalize on that success is to activate her current roster of sponsors, which includes Adidas, American Athletic, AT&T, CoverGirl, GK Elite (gymnast apparel), Longines watchmaker, Secret, Sega, Vanilla Star jeans and Visa. Many of those sponsors were limited in what they can do with Liukin before the Games because they’re not Olympic partners.
The plan is to use the 36-city gymnastics tour organized by Edge Marketing as a vehicle to promote those relationships. Vanilla Star jeans is already talking about launching a signature Liukin line and doing appearances at retail locations where the jeans are sold during the tour.
Morgenstein also sees two new opportunities. He plans to pursue a book deal for Liukin to write a first-person account of her success at overcoming obstacles like her injuries. The book would be targeted at girls 10 years old and older.
He also hopes to find a company that produces healthy foods for kids on the go, which he sees as a perfect fit for Liukin. He hasn’t decided what brands would be right for that, but it’s something he’s after.
“She’s always on the move and eating healthy, so I just see that as a good fit,” Morgenstein said.
In the 24 hours after she won the gold in women’s all-around, Morgenstein also heard from a pharmaceutical company that’s interested in signing her and her family for a pain relief product. They see the family as a good fit because of both Liukin’s and her father’s history with injuries. Valeri Liukin won two gold medals and two silvers in the 1988 Seoul Olympics as a Russian gymnast.
Before any deals are done, though, Morgenstein said he plans to hire a publicist to help deal with what he anticipates will be numerous requests for interviews and appearances in the coming weeks.
It sounds busy, but that’s OK, because as Morgenstein likes to say, “Everything in Nastialand is going great.”
