Public Figure Brand Deals: Risky Business

Payton Costenbader
Marketing Editor

Cultivating a brand image that is well received by the vast majority of the public is a difficult task to handle. With social media being a massive influence, each step a brand makes must be calculated and well thought out. A tricky spot that brand’s often find themselves in trouble is in regards to public figure endorsements. Public figures that represent brands have a high expectation of good conduct as they are holding the entire image of a brand upon their back.

It is a great marketing technique to have a popular athlete support a sport related brand. For example, Nike is often successful in choosing their brand ambassadors. Serena Williams, Michael Jordan and LeBron James are all public figures who are sponsored by Nike that have brought positive attention to Nike’s brand, as well as the public figure’s personal image. Very notably, the Michael Jordan Air Jordan sneaker line at Nike has become a hit among the “sneakerhead” community as Gen Z refers to people who collect fashionable shoes.

On occasion, companies make the wrong choice regarding which celebrity to invite onto the team as a representative of the

brand. This, in turn, becomes a terrible marketing decision and leads to negative public opinion. Following the Nike example, they have long-term sponsored Tiger Woods throughout his iconic career in professional golf. Beginning in 1996, the brand deal has been renewed on multiple occasions and closed it’s 27 year run with the public figure in 2024. Woods is unfortunately well-known for the scandal of 2009 that damaged Nike shareholder value. Due to issues within Wood’s personal life, he became infamous on the internet for his bad decision making and people connected this negative image with Nike. Across all of Wood’s brand associations, which branched out from Nike to Electronic Arts and PepsiCo, it is estimated that his personal life issues cost the companies between $5 and $12 billion in wealth.

Companies have not strayed away from the idea of having a celebrity endorse their products to gain extra exposure, though the risk they know it is associated with. Larger companies will have more success as they are able to bounce back from a loss in subsequent years, however one bad brand image decision is enough to sink a small or developing company. It is within the company’s responsibility to thoroughly trust and research the person they are choosing to have represent their products in order to craft a responsible marketing campaign.

Contact Payton at costenpa@shu.edu