Back in July of 2003 Ken Hein from BRANDWEEK asked my opinion on Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault accusations.  My two prominent responses were “there used to be a group of guys you knew would deliver” meaning they wouldn’t find themselves in any “off the field” trouble.  The second was, “morals clauses will be tougher” and for the most part, they have been.  Holly Sanders Ware’s article in the NY Post tackles this issue very well. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/tiger_ad_tale_j6FkiixiLLO9lNpAZp8WgJ

 Most sports marketers, brand decision makers and fans thought Tiger would be one of those athletes I defined in my former opinion.  We now know this is not the case.  Tiger is about to learn the consequences of mismanaging a PR crisis.  Think back to the vastly different approaches taken by Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte when they were cited in the Mitchell Report last year. 

 More recently, look how David Letterman handled his office infidelities, with a pro-active announcement on National TV no less.  Both Pettitte and Letterman were ahead of the press and didn’t allow rumors to develop because they robbed the media from formulating their own (potentially false) stories.  Both Pettitte and Letterman’s situations were then relegated to lesser covered news stories soon after. 

 The Tiger fallout will be with us through the holidays and the impact on his endorsement contracts is something we in the industry will be closely watching.  Keep in mind this will be no easy decision for his sponsors if more damaging fallout occurs.  Tiger’s partners, especially Gatorade and Nike have literally built their brands around his image.  There is simply too much revenue at stake.  Stay tuned.

admin Uncategorized