Endorsement deals will still come Henry’s way

Immediately, I thought of Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal when I saw it.  My next thought? soccer may need more than one referee.  Or, maybe its time to give line judges some more responsibility other than holding up the offsides flag?

Whatever you were thinking after France Forward Theirry Henry’s illegal hand ball last week that allowed France to earn a World Cup birth, you probably weren’t thinking about Gillette…or Pepsi.

That’s not to say that they were forgotten, though.

So, what of Henry’s endorsement deals, estimated to be in the tens of millions per year?  Will they be effected in light of his “cheating”?  (A term I use very loosely when its become part of the game to fake an injury to try and draw a foul…and yet no one says anything about that…but, I digress.)

The clean-cut image that helped Mr. Henry net a high-profile deal with razor manufacturer Gillette has been tarnished, but as controversy rages around the Barcelona forward, sponsorship experts insist that the harm to his reputation won’t extend to his off-field earnings.

“In terms of his marketing prowess going forward, I don’t see it impacting him meaningfully,” says Tim Crow, chief executive of sports sponsorship consultants Synergy. “Having played for Arsenal and playing now for Barcelona, his footprint is world-wide and I don’t see this changing that.

“It will stick with him and it will be something that people consider now when they are considering him for endorsements, but ultimately it’s all about his performance on the field.” (via Wall Street Journal)

The last sentence was very telling.  Performance.  Winning erases any indiscretion with marketers.  Ask Ray Lewis. Ask Kobe Bryant.  Ask any actor that’s been arrested for an indiscretion then gave an Oscar worthy performance in their next movie.  Sponsorship is a business, any anyone that thinks decisions are based on some set of morals held by everyone within the company…well, you probably just aren’t being fair to yourself.  And sure, as the article notes, there are some people which will view Henry as toxic in light of last weeks events,

“If you were a brand that traded very much on trust—products in health care, for example—it would be a bit unfortunate to be aligned with him. I don’t think he’ll be endorsing financial services any time soon either.” (Pippa Collett)

But that’s only because it doesn’t make sense to sign that check over to Henry because he won’t help build the brand of those particular companies, its not because they found the hand ball to be so morally repugnant that it stained the game of soccer forever.  If Henry saved the president’s life tomorrow, I wonder if he could find a way to find a couple endorsement deals then?

And sure, maybe this killed Henry’s chance at becoming a global endorser, but who’s to say that was going to happen anyway?  I’ve been around people when the Federer/Woods/Henry Gillette ad’s have come on…at least here in America, its usually the same question…

“Who’s that black guy that’s with Federer and Tiger?”

Maybe the title of “global endorser” is a little further away than everyone was initially thinking.  In the meantime, I’m sure Henry can still find some great endorsement deals while some of the world is waiting for his performance to return him back to being respectable and marketable.

Maybe a nice glove company?  Or hand warmers?

Just a thought.

Tags: France, Hand of God, Theirry Henry, world cup

Category: Fringe Sports