June 23, 2010

For those of you that have been away from any sort of sports programming today, Landon Donovan? He’s now kind of a big deal.

Donovan’s game winning goal, in stoppage time, has branded him as an American hero.  Of course, from a marketing standpoint, the question becomes what can be done with Donovan’s new found fame?  Octagon’s David Schwab summed it up best with this tweet:

“Landon may have just done what Lance, Mia & Phelps did.  Be marketable outside of his sport.”

…And maybe he has.  The first rule of being a nationally recognized endorser?  People have to know who you are.

Check.

In the minutes following Landon Donovan’s game winning goal in the 91st minute of action (which sent the U.S. to the round of 16), (Internet) traffic spiked to 11.2 million visitors per minute, which moves the event past the 2008 presidential election as the second highest traffic spike of all-time.

Today’s number was also likely pushed significantly higher because England and Slovenia were also playing a suspenseful World Cup match at the same time. The plethora of World Cup breaking news briefly knocked Yahoo Sports offline and also caused issues at Twitter –- though the latter has been somewhat of a regular occurrence during the World Cup (on a related note, tweets containing “USA” spiked to 6% of total tweet volume). (via Mashable)

Combine that with whatever number of people that were watching the game on television and did not use the internet, and it’s probably safe to assume that Donovan is in the consciousness of the general American public.

It’s also vitally important that the athlete be “in demand”.  The whole nation can know your name, but if they don’t actually want or believe in your brand?  Endorsers will not be beating down your door.  Needless to say, Donovan currently has that area covered as well,

Donovan, the face of American soccer, first appeared on a certified autograph trading card in 2004, pictured as a Los Angeles Dodgers fan as part of an insert set in the Playoff Absolute Baseball set.

That card, prior to Wednesday, was valued at a mere $40 but had been selling for as much as $75 during the first 10 days of the World Cup. In the moments after the U.S. national team’s victory over Algeria, one of the cards on eBay had eclipsed the $100 barrier with three hours still remaining while four new copies of the card had been listed within minutes of the outcome, with two sporting Buy It Now prices of $499.99 and the other two featuring $200 price tags. (via Beckett Blog)

Now, do I expect a Landon Donovan card to sell for $500?  Well, no. But the fact that anyone even had the audacity to ask $500 for the card says something in and of itself.

Finally, the athlete has to actually be marketable.  There are already a few well-known companies that believe in Donovan’s marketability; he currently has endorsement deals with Gatorade and AT&T among others, and was most recently spotted in Nike’s brilliant Write the Future commercial.  He also is an apparent endorser of the Mexican lottery,

Donovan appears to be relatively marketable, he’s well-spoken, talented, and after today, he’s well-known and in demand…even amongst non-soccer fans.  It certainly isn’t outlandish to see some more endorsement opportunities in the near future.  Will Donovan’s goal put him on a plateau with heavy marketing hitters like Peyton Manning?  Of course not.  But might he be mentioned in the same breath as Michael Phelps or Lance Armstrong?

Quite possibly.

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