Page 178 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

New Media Sportscapes: Branding and the Internet • 167

an ongoing relationship. The established fan appeal of sport celebrities means that
their image and qualities are often associated with particular brands or sponsors.
Nike, for example, regularly associates the qualities of the brand with an individual

sportsperson or a team. Lury (2004) cited Hatfield’s account of the design of a shoe
for Bo Jackson:

Bo reminded me of a cartoon character . . . his muscles are big, his face is big—
he’s larger than life. To me he was like Mighty Mouse. So we designed a shoe
called the Air Trainer that embodied characteristics of Bo Jackson and Mighty
Mouse. Whenever you see Mighty Mouse, he’s moving forward. He’s got a slant
to him. So the shoe needed to look like it was in motion, it had to be kind of in-
flated looking and brightly coloured, and its features had to be exaggerated. That’s

how we came up with the larger-than-life, brightly coloured Stability Outrigger
and the similarly coloured, inflated-looking tongue top. (p. 90)

But Nike’s Swoosh logo is not associated with a real person. Lury (2004: 91) argued
that the Swoosh can be understood as an abstract personification of Nike: ‘the desire

for success, and then of its realisation, success itself’.
To broker a lucrative sponsorship deal, athletes must distinguish themselves
through their play or their character. This was illustrated in the fi lm Jerry McGuire
(1996), in which football players developed distinctive touchdown celebrations after
a good play to ensure that companies could recognise them. However, there are risks
involved in giving a brand the face of a sport celebrity. Increasingly, the public has
access to a range of information about sport celebrities’ lives through blogs, home
tours and fanzines. According to Rein and Shields (2007: 69), new technologies can
foster ‘electronic intimacy and fan adoration’, but they can also make athletes ‘more

vulnerable to situations that can significantly impact their image’. Sponsorship con-
sultants Redmandarin suggested sport crises such as tabloid scandals, drug use, un-
popular public statements and equipment problems can pose a threat to ‘sponsors’
most valuable assets, their brands’ (Barrand 2005: para. 1). An article on managing
crisis in sport in their newsletter claimed, ‘The national press is filled to the brim with

sports stars dragging the image of their employers—and the sports they represent—
through the proverbial mud’ (Barrand 2005: para. 2). If an athlete is shown to fail
using the product range, the brand suffers:

Tiger’s Lost Ball, 2003
Nike entered the golf market with a five-year £90m deal with Tiger Woods. It

came unstuck at the first hole of the 2003 Open Championship at Sandwich. Using

the new Nike driver, Woods lost his ball with his first shot. He later reverted to his

old driver, made by rival Titleist. (Barrand 2005: para. 21)