YAHOO SPORTS' Sam Cooper reported Gold Medal-winning U.S. ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White "will be featured on a special-edition box of Corn Flakes beginning on Feb. 24." Only 1,000 boxes "will be produced." Davis and White join U.S. freeskiers Joss Christensen, Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper, who swept the podium in the men's inaugural ski slopestyle competition, as having their own cereal boxes (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/18). Fox Business' Sandra Smith said Davis and White are "extremely marketable" following winning the first ice dancing Gold in U.S. history. Smith: "They're the American dream. It's all about the endorsement deals. It means commercials, book deals, it can mean a lot of things." Smith indicated that "Olympic rookies" like snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg and men's hockey RW T.J. Oshie "could make up to about $500,000 in initial endorsements, and that could lead to the jackpot." Smith: "These Olympic Gold Medals turn into a lot of green" ("ET," 2/18).
X MARKS THE SPOT: Octagon Managing Dir of Olympic & Action Sports Peter Carlisle, who reps several Olympians who compete in "new sports" like snowboard cross and slopestyle, appeared on CNBC's live coverage in Sochi yesterday and was asked by the net's Brian Sullivan, "What's the real marketing potential for some of these athletes once the Games are over?" Carlisle said it is "actually far greater than some of the traditional Olympic sports" because there is an "industry that carries on between the Games." Carlisle: "They have the X Games, they have the Dew Tour, you've got the Burton Open Series. These guys can stay out there. This kind of builds their global image and then they can go back to work in the industry. So they do actually better than the traditional athletes." He said, "If you win a Gold Medal in the Olympics in one of these sports that has a decent amount of marketability, it can mean anywhere from $100,000 to seven figures a year" ("Street Signs," CNBC, 2/18).
NAVIGATING THE RULEBOOK: The AP's Leicester & Wilson wrote IOC rules "severely restricting advertising is a serious issue" for many Olympians, as they could be "disqualified if they use the games to plug non-approved brands." The agents for U.S. figure skaters Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold indicated that jewelry company Pandora, which sponsors both competitors, had to "put on hold an advertising campaign it prepared with Gold and to stop running magazine ads that showed Wagner." The IOC's Rule 40, which prevents non-Olympic sponsors from featuring Olympians in promotions, "applies from nine days before the opening ceremony until three days after the closing." While the IOC "has steadfastly defended the policy, the committee appears willing to consider changes in the future." IOC Dir of Communications Mark Adams: "It's up for discussion and debate. It's an open issue at the games." " (AP, 2/18).
OLYMPIC OVERKILL: The CP's David Friend reported many ads airing in Canada during Olympics telecasts are "testing new limits of patience," and marketers suggested that the "novelty of a single Olympic advertisement loses its lustre -- fast -- and can make a pricey campaign work against a company." Toronto-based ad agency Rain43 co-Founder & President John Yorke said, "There is a backlash of people who get tired of seeing that same Bell spot over and over again, or that same RBC spot. You don’t want them to have a negative feeling towards your brand." Friend noted that working "against national Canadian advertisers is that there are few companies that can afford pricey TV spots, which means the same commercials are saturating the airwaves" (CP, 2/18).
