Post-Pumas Ready To Pounce on Carter

Brandweek,  July 3, 2000  by Terry Lefton

Tags: brand, Branding, CARTER, Games, MARKETINGMasterCard InternationalNBANike Inc.Reebok International Ltd.

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With a decision imminent in arbitration between Puma and National Basketball Association poster child du jour Vince Carter, sneaker brands are already lining up to snare the rights to the NBA's most marketable player outside of Kobe Bryant. The three brands in pursuit of Carter are Nike, And 1 and Reebok. All have held meetings within the past month with IMG.

Nike obviously has the deepest pockets, but maintains a basketball-only positioning. And I is willing to offer a lot of cash and equity in its small but growing brand. Reebok, suddenly active in sports marketing again after dropping many of its athletes, will have to convince IMG and Carter that he will get as much support as Allen Iverson, the Stoughton, Mass., brand's current top hoops endorser. Whichever brand bags Carter would also get the U.S. Olympic team as a marketing platform, since Carter is playing on that squad. Carter walked out on his 10-year Puma deal last November, claiming he was dissatisfied with the product's quality and the marketing Puma dedicated to His Airiness II. Carter wore Nike, And I and Adidas shoes for the remainder of the NBA season. While the decision is that of an arbitrator, industry opinions favors Puma winning the case, meaning whichever company signs Carter would have to underwrite an expected award in favor of the sneaker company.

After a lengthy review looking for the "big idea" to market its biggest and oldest sponsorship, MasterCard has awarded the promotional assignment for its 2002 World Cup sponsorship to Octagon, which won out over Integer Group in getting the assignment. Agency sources said Octagon will bring MasterCard's World Cup sponsorship under its "Priceless" umbrella positioning with a usage promotion that will give away thousands of tickets in various soccer-crazed markets. Octagon has worked on the MasterCard account under its former moniker of Advantage since 1992.

Whether the XFL will be judged a success has a lot do on how people will measure it. Witness the National Hockey League's ecstasy over ratings for its last two Stanley Cup Final games on ABC that rank among the lowest prime time network shows, but still the highest-rated network NHL contest in two decades. For its part, the XFL is stressing the customized nature of its marketing packages, selling agendas that bundle spots on all the nascent league's national broadcasts: TNN will carry games Sundays from 4-7 p.m., UPN will follow with a 7-10 p.m. telecast, and NBC will offer games Saturday nights, 8-11 p.m. League officials are telling prospective sponsors they'll get a cumulative 11 rating for the three telecasts each weekend, with NBC likely half of that. They are also projecting average attendance of 19,000 per game. Some form of perimeter field signage, a la soccer, is expected, but league officials say they will not be selling signage on helmets or uniforms, or on the field itself. As for the quality of t he football, a reasonable question given the choreographed nature of parent WWF: "This will be the real thing," said Paul Kayaian, director of corporate sponsorships. "We're not rolling out the steel cage at halftime:'

Extra Innings: Former Association of Volleyball Professionals chief Jerry Solomon, with funding from Thunderbolt Capital, will launch Sportsinstruction.com in conjunction with his Star Games event/marketing firm. Athlete deals launching with the site are with figure skater Nancy Kerrigan (Solomon's wife),tennis coach Vic Braden, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Kris Benson, Olympic swimming coach Mark Schubert and former Olympic volleyballer Barbara Fontana. How will the site differ from others like mysportsguru.com? "We see considerable offline opportunity, like camps and a TV component," Solomon said . . . ESPN will use Sportvision's True Track feature, which measures the distance of home runs, during the Century 21-entitled Home Run Derby July 10. The program enhancement will not be sponsored .. . Reebok has signed Indianapolis Colts running back Edgerrin James to an endorsement deal. The second-year player will join fellow NFL'ers Jevon Kearse and Joey Galloway in some print ads for cross-training shoes ... Don na Goldsmith to World Wrestling Federation as svp-consumer products, where she's also expected to work on the XFL. She'd been with the NBA for the past decade, most recently vp-category management.

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