Visa Inc. popped out ads almost as quickly as he swam his laps. Pizza Hut is giving Michael Phelps and his teammates free pizza and pasta for a year because Phelps beat Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in one Olympics.
Visa Inc. / Associated Press
Michael Phelps was shown in a Visa commercial that aired right after he won his eighth gold medal.
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The makers of a new sports drink are embarking on their first national advertising campaign, banking on his swimming glories.
Phelps is everywhere this summer, and companies want to share in his fame. They're taking out ads and pitching endorsements and giveaways.
The 23-year-old from Baltimore has proved himself in the pool, but will he sink or swim as a long-term pitchman on Madison Avenue?
“He is in the top tier of athletics, and now he's going to get his tryout as a personality,” said John Sweeney, director of sports communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Tiger Woods sure passed, but Mark Spitz didn't. And there are plenty of people who they try to develop the whole persona around, and two years later it's gone.”
Phelps has won 14 gold medals, the most of any Olympian ever. Eight of those were at the Beijing Olympics, which end Sunday. His achievements at these Games broke American swimmer Spitz's record of seven golds at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, for the most won at one time.
Phelps already has top endorsements from companies such as Visa, Speedo, Omega, Hilton and AT&T. And he's certainly got a big fan base – or Phans, as they call themselves.
His agents at Octagon know it. Peter Carlisle, who leads the Olympic and action sports division there, told The Wall Street Journal in a story yesterday that he expects Phelps' current earnings of between $3 million and $5 million a year should at least double because of his performance in Beijing.
“What is the value of eight golds in Beijing before a prime-time audience in the U.S?” Carlisle said. “I'd say $100 million over the course of his lifetime.”
Visa, which has had a long-standing relationship with Phelps, was quick to release ads celebrating his big feats – when he won his 10th career gold medal, which made him the winningest Olympian ever, and later, when he won his eighth gold at Beijing.
Phelps already has been one of the focal points of Visa's “Go World” campaign, which uses rich sepia tones and slow, focused shots to tell stories of athletes and the Olympics.
As soon as he hit the two milestones, Visa aired the new ads at the very next commercial break. The company also took out print ads over the weekend and yesterday.
Kevin Burke, head of Visa's global consumer marketing, said the company is proud to have Phelps affiliated with the brand. Visa declined to say what it was paying Phelps, and it's not clear yet where the pairing will go.
New companies are coming after Phelps, too. Carlisle told the Journal he's getting up to 50 pitches a day.
The beverage PureSport is about to launch its first national advertising campaign with Phelps as a spokesman. Phelps, who is sponsored by the sports performance brand, also drinks it, as do his teammates, said its maker, Human Performance Labs. Chief Executive Michael Humphrey said the company, not even a year old, plans a big campaign with Phelps and gymnast Nastia Liukin.
He said the company has a “substantial” multiyear deal with Phelps but declined to give specifics.
Pizza Hut, part of Yum Brands, is giving Phelps and his teammates on the U.S. swim team free pizza and pasta for a year. The company didn't say if it would do any advertisements with the team.
Another of Phelps' sponsors, Kellogg Co., is also looking to bank on the wins.
“We are currently evaluating opportunities to build upon this excitement; however, a final determination about our future plans has not yet been made,” the company said.
Although all these companies are clamoring over Phelps, it's not clear how persuasive a pitchman he'll be. Other than in the pool, Americans haven't seen too much of him – but that's changing.
Phelps made TV appearances after winning his medals. He'll no doubt make the talk-show circuit, appear at events and do speaking engagements, said Joe Terrian, assistant dean at the College of Business at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
The uniqueness of his feat will only carry him so far, Sweeney said. The American people will need more than his achievements if Phelps is going to prove a staying force in advertising. That would include having a personality that draws people in and qualities that make people care, Sweeney said.
Mark Spitz didn't have it, he said.
But Mary Lou Retton? She has it. The gymnast turned a one-time gold medal in the 1984 Olympics into a career of speaking engagements, television appearances and commentaries that's still going to this day, Sweeney said.
Phelps has earned this shot at what Sweeney calls a very elite tryout. Now we'll sit back and watch.
“We'll see in the interviews,” Sweeney said. “Is he funny? Is he warm? Is he interesting? Does he say things that make you want to listen more, or is he the great athlete who is pleased to be here and he's done? It's going to be interesting.”
