The rise and rise of athlete brand endorsements

Abstract

Athlete endorsements, or the use of professional sportsmen (and women), can be traced back to the start of the 20th century. In their infancy, endorsements primarily featured the top baseball players of the day, offering their name and likeness to promote a variety of products. Over time, endorsement opportunities became available to athletes in other sports, including the Olympics, boxing and football. Brands often aligned with celebrity endorsers, irrespective of whether there existed a brand fit between the product being sold, and the endorser espousing its virtues. While that still happens even in the modern era of sophisticated marketing, there is more often than not a connection between the endorser and the product that can be communicated clearly to the consumer. Studies have shown that while brands borrow equity (the so called halo effect) from endorsers to create an intangible value through that association, endorsement deals can also result in quantifiable results for the product being endorsed.