Sky, Jaguar and Gatorade have “whisked out press ads” in yesterday’s U.K. papers to “congratulate Bradley Wiggins on his feat of becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France,” according to Daniel Farey-Jones of MARKETING magazine. The win “vindicates Sky’s decision in 2009 to become the headline sponsor of the British road cycling team.” But none of the ads “feature a picture of Wiggins, who is competing in the Olympics, due to the ad blackout in force” around the London Games from July 18 until August 15. Sky in one ad “offers its thanks to Team Sky,” and invites people to “join the celebrations by following the Twitter hashtag #believeinbritain.” Rather than using a picture of Wiggins “or a professional racer, it shows a boy dressed in casual cycling gear pulling on a yellow t-shirt” (MARKETINGMAGAZINE.co.uk, 7/23). brandRapport Sports Marketing Dir Nigel Currie said that Wiggins “stands to make” over US$155,000 a week "from commercial activities alone after becoming the first Briton ever to win the Tour de France.” Currie: “The key is that this is something unique and different. It is the only time we in the U.K. have ever come even close to winning it. He’ll be a big star here but he’s already become a huge star on the continent and in the U.S.” Currie said that Wiggins’ achievements “lend themselves to a particular sector,” and consumers can “expect to see his face on our most mundane household goods, a lucrative market by virtue of its ubiquity” (London TELEGRAPH, 7/23).
