Tiger's rise and fall in the world of brands
When he was at his peak, brands like Accenture and TAG Heuer couldn’t get enough of him and then, when he fell, they dumped him. Here is the story of Tiger Woods image in the eyes of the advertising world.
Woods’ first Nike commercial came in 2006 when Nike aired a TV ad with children of different ethnicities saying, “I am Tiger Woods.” The ad portrayed Nike’s worldwide perspective and the inspiring role of Tiger Woods, who comes
from a multi-ethnic background. Since then Accenture, AT&T, EA Sports, Gatorade, Gillette, and many other brands signed on Tiger, as their brand ambassador.
The ads featured Tiger Woods as a brand. He was tipped for his energy, class, accent and clothes,besdies of course his golfing prowess. However, after Thanksgiving this year, the first brand to pull its name out of sponsorships
was Accenture.
AT&T Inc., who proudly sponsored Woods' bag, and Gatorade, which had a drink name after Tiger Woods followed the footsteps of Accenture dumping the man in need of support. Gillette and Tag Heuer cancelled the deal with the player,
whereas, Buick pulled out endorsements as well.
This was not followed by the other big names like Nike and EA Sports, as their relationship with the veteran was based on sports and not his personal life. Kantar Media disclosed that Woods was featured in $700,000 worth of advertisements
in the first half of 2010 and all of them were under Nike or EA Sports. These ad campaigns were not even one percent of the endorsements previously showered upon him.
The biggest blow faced by the 34-year old was an ad featuring the voice of his late father, which was taken from the documentary made on his life. The ad was made by Nike, but despite a woeful event, Tiger did not sue the brand.
However, after a few months of the negative media smear, Tiger made a comeback in The Open Championship, which took place in Scotland. To his surprise, the British press gave him an easy time and their questions changed the direction
from his personal life to his career by the time the Ryder Cup hit the Celtic Manor. The change came after Tiger Woods made a public confession and apologized to his loved ones.
A few weeks ago, Tiger joined Twitter and started making public appearance on radio shows. The strategy designed by his public relation team bought a sudden positive impact on the star’s image.
David Schwab, vice-president at Octagon commented on Tiger’s new image. He said, "A smart decision by Tiger and his team to be proactive and get ahead of the one-year story. Now those stories will talk about his latest words, goals,
and plans."
Tiger’s New Year resolution, besides cleaning up his image, is to win back his sponsors. He needs to bring back the magic to his swings and those logos on his gear. The Tiger Woods Foundation had its name printed on the bag, which
he used in the HSBC Champions and Australian Masters. According to Steinberg, “An Asian logo will be seen on Tiger’s future at some point in future. I feel pretty positive that we'll start to slowly build back his partnership base.”
As for the swings, the World No.2 is working with Sean Foley. The coach made him putt bare foot and videotaped him, which resulted in a score like 64 in the first round of Chevron Wold Challenge. However, Tiger Woods lost the title
in a play-off to Graeme McDowell, but he made new fans on the particular stage: Ian Poulter, who happens to be his worst rival, accepted the change in Woods’ swings. Moreover, Lee Westwood, who snatched the World No.1 rank from him made a statement that the
golfer should not be underestimated.
Tiger will be appearing in Nike’s new ad in the start of 2011 and chances are that he will kick some dust in the eyes of sponsors that left him at a very trying time.
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