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Celebrities' star power can flicker or flameMarch 08, 2010
Celebrities' star power can flicker or flame
By Cheryl Hall | The Dallas Morning News
Tiger Woods said he was sorry, and America shrugged.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees hugged his baby boy after the Super Bowl, and we melted.
Apolo Anton Ohno and Shaun White soared at the Olympics and made us proud.
That's why the latest leaderboard of the top 10 celebrity endorsers includes the football player and the Olympians but not the world's most famous golfer.
When it comes to this key attribute used by marketers before signing spokespeople, Woods is still deeply buried in a sand trap.
Davie Brown Entertainment, a Dallas celebrity research company, conducts online surveys to determine how we feel about celebrities – are they trustworthy, do we like them and would we buy what they're hawking?
This unit of The Marketing Arm puts the data into an index called the DBI. Marketers and agencies use it to determine which celebrity best fits their brands.
The DBI has been keeping close tabs on golf's 34-year-old superstar since his marital scandal surfaced after Thanksgiving.
Many thought Woods' apology on Feb. 19 might begin to resuscitate his marketability.
It didn't.
His numbers for almost every key marketing attribute slipped slightly in the poll taken Feb. 22. They're worse in the survey taken March 2.
"The whole reason behind making a public apology is to regain some sort of public trust, and that did not happen," says Matt Delzell, group account director and DBI's Tiger expert. "Overall, he flat-lined.
"Tiger waited way too long. And then his apology had that private, guarded, Tiger-esque feel to it," Delzell says. "The majority of the people I've spoken with and the polling suggest that it was too scripted."
For each DBI survey, 1,000 Americans from a pool of 4.5 million are asked about a celebrity's eight key marketing attributes. Those results make up an overall DBI rating.
At the outset of 2009, Tiger Woods was a perennial on the DBI Top 10, along with Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Michael Jordan, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington.
His current rank of 147 puts him in a league with Drew Carey, Tom Brokaw, Peyton Manning and Magic Johnson, which doesn't sound that bad.
But that's because awareness gets more clout than other attributes in the index, and Woods is among the most recognized celebrities on the planet with a rank of 21.
Olympic snowboarder White, alpine skier Lindsey Vonn (14th in endorsement value) and snowboard cross athlete Seth Wescott (No. 277) made hay while their gold medals shined. General Mills Inc. chose their faces to grace its Wheaties boxes.
But they, along with speed-skater Ohno (who ranked ninth in endorsement value), may be shooting stars. Although all scored well in trust, influence and trendsetting, none has a universally recognizable name. Plus, they're no longer in the spotlight.
"NBA players are on TV for 82 games and for six to seven months a year," says Chris Anderson, another DBI specialist. "Olympians are here and gone."
As for Brees, his star may be rising, Anderson says. His awareness factor spiked from No. 1,109 before the Super Bowl to No. 359 in the latest survey. He's ranked fifth in aspiration, 14th in influence and 29th in trend setting. And football has an eight-month season.
"The Super Bowl is the world's biggest marketing platform. For Brees, winning the MVP was huge," Anderson says. "He comes across as an affable guy with a winning smile. He's respected by his teammates and peers. Carries himself beautifully."
That isn't the case these days with Woods.
As of last Monday, Tiger ranked 2,378th out of 2,400 celebrities in trust and 2,283rd in endorsement value. It's hard to capture commercial deals when the public places you just above aging rocker Ozzy Osbourne in trust and just below rapper Eminem in terms of endorsement.
When it comes to appeal, Tiger was No. 2,389. That means he ranked higher than just 11 celebs, including Donald Trump and Roger Clemens. Even Gary Coleman – the former child actor on Diff'rent Strokes, who's had his own public issues lately – beat Woods in likability.
Woods' influence has been his most resilient attribute – he's only dropped to the 246th spot, probably because consumers still see him as a fine golfer.
But in terms of whether people aspire to be Tiger Woods, he came in at No. 2,423, wedged between Barry Bonds and Jon Gosselin and below the 2,400 cut of celebrities that anyone even cares about.
Davie Brown helped AT&T Inc. and Procter & Gamble's Gillette brand sign deals with Woods. Both advertisers dropped Woods after his DBI numbers went into a death spiral in early December.
PepsiCo Inc.'s Gatorade brand threw in the Tiger towel on Feb. 26. Nike Inc. continues to profess support for Woods.
A publicist for Woods was quoted on Bloomberg last Thursday as saying the public did buy into Tiger's confession, pointing to an HCD Research survey taken the day of his public apology. It indicated that 31 percent liked what they heard, and 17 percent liked him less. That left 52 percent with unchanged opinions.
Delzell says a fallen star must do three things for commercial redemption: make a sincere apology, keep his nose clean and have career success.
Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant did a great job with his apology for his infidelity, has kept out of the tabloids and continues to reign on the basketball court.
"He's erased people's memories about the bad stuff," Delzell says. "Nike has spent a ton of money on the campaign with him and LeBron [James]. The guy can still sell shoes because people can see him wearing them."
That will be the key for Woods, even though – or perhaps because – his confession was less than effective.
Delzell says no one is counting Tiger out. And he won't disclose which way any DBI clients might be leaning.
But "Tiger needs to get back on the course. With success and time, people tend to forgive and forget – or at least move on."