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Colorado Springs-based startup Maxletics "hopes to generate" more than $1M in income for Olympic athletes before the '18 PyeongChang Games by "packaging groups of athletes in different sports for endorsement deals to support their training," according to Wayne Heilman of the Colorado Springs GAZETTE. Maxletics co-Founder & CEO Jan Horsfall said that the company "generated about $200,000 in a few months" for about 20 athletes competing in the Rio Games in a "successful test of its strategy that is based on the growing influence on consumer purchasing by endorsements, displacing traditional paid advertising." Horsfall said that the strategy "depends on social media posts, online marketing tools, public appearances and using the product or service the group of athletes is endorsing, which can range from sporting equipment and drinks to clothing and beauty products." Horsfall said, "I can't sell a gold medalist in fencing on an endorsement deal but if you put that athlete together with five or 10 other Olympic athletes, I can sell that. The bigger agencies haven't figured out how to do that." Horsfall said that Maxletics uses the 10,000-20,000 social media followers many elite athletes have and teaches them how to "expand that network and build engagement" with their followers so they can "promote the products or services they endorse." Maxletics "gets a fee averaging" about 20% on each deal (
Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 6/15).
