Sponsors Ready for Magic Matchup

Magic Johnson vs. Michael Jordan won’t be the only dream matchup in the National Basketball Assn. championship series.

How about Pepsi vs. Coke? Kentucky Fried Chicken vs. McDonald’s? Nike vs. Converse? Each of these has a marketing deal with either Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar, or the Chicago Bulls’ Jordan, and they hope to share the glory that their commercial spokesmen figure to net.

“This is why they sign these guys to the big contracts,” said Lon Rosen, the Los Angeles agent who represents Johnson. The extra attention Johnson and Jordan will receive, Rosen said, amounts to “free commercials” for advertisers.

Some firms are revamping their advertising plans to cash in on their celebrity endorsers’ recent success in getting to the NBA finals. McDonald’s, which earlier this year sold McJordan sandwiches in the Chicago area, said it will run a barrage of TV commercials featuring Jordan promoting its new low-fat offering, McLean DeLuxe.

The best-of-seven championship series “will be one of the best-watched shows on the air in the next week or two, and he (Jordan) is going to get great exposure,” said a McDonald’s spokesman. “There’s always a good rub off.”

Nike, the nation’s No. 1 sneaker marketer, said it will air a “retrospective” of previous Michael Jordan commercials during the NBA Finals, six spots featuring the athlete appearing with filmmaker Spike Lee.

Lesser known firms are delighting in the Johnson-Jordan showdown, too. Take Amurol Products of suburban Chicago, which makes Hang Time, a shredded bubble gum endorsed by Jordan that is sold during the basketball season.

Normally, by this time of year, Amurol stops selling Hang Time and instead markets its summer brand, Big League Chew. This year, though, the company is still shipping Hang Time to retailers in the Chicago area “because, obviously, this town’s gone crazy with Bulls fever,” said Gary Schuetz, Amurol’s vice president for marketing.

“We’d be happy to take orders from L.A., too,” he said with a laugh, “but we haven’t gotten any requests yet.”

Marketers aren’t gleeful simply because Johnson vs. Jordan is expected to be a great battle. Their teams also happen to represent the No. 2 and No. 3 TV markets in the country, so hordes of hometown fans should boost the national viewership figures.

In the Los Angeles-area television market, there are 5 million households with TV sets. In Chicago, there are 3.1 million. Last year’s finalists and this year’s runners-up, Portland and Detroit, together have only 2.5 million TV households.

For NBC, the network televising the NBA contest, the biggest worry is that the best-of-seven series will run only the minimum four games, leaving it with too little commercial time to sell to sponsors.

Still, some skeptics scoff at the idea that even a seven-game championship contest would spur increased sales for advertisers with ties to Johnson or Jordan. Part of the problem, they say, is that the two ballplayers already are so well known that there is little the series can do to boost their image in a way that would add luster to the products they endorse.

A poll taken last year by the research firm Marketing Evaluations/TVQ found that Jordan already was the most “likable” and “familiar” performer in America. Johnson was tied for second with former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton.

“If you’re in advertising and haven’t figured out by now that Michael Jordan would be good for your product, you ought to be selling shoes,” said Steven Levitt, president of Marketing Evaluations/TVQ.

Added Ray Benton, vice chairman of Sports Partners International: “You’re talking about two guys who’ve gotten about as many endorsements as they can have. They are so good I don’t know what this could do to enhance their celebrity.”

Even if neither Johnson nor Jordan picks up many new product endorsements, there’s no need to take up a collection. Each already has deals with about 15 advertisers, and both are estimated to earn more than $10 million a year from endorsements. That’s on top of the roughly $3 million they each receive for shooting baskets and running up and down the court.

But sports agents say that if a young, lesser star--perhaps the Lakers’ Vlade Divac or the Bulls Scottie Pippen--gets a hot hand and steals the show, he could reap a bonanza of endorsements.

Johnson and Jordan “are established stars, leaders of their teams,” Levitt said. “For some up and comers, it might make a difference.”

NBA Championship Audience

With this year’s NBA finals featuring the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Chicago Bulls--teams from the nation’s second-and third-largest TV markets--advertisers hope for an expanded audience.

Year Teams Average Number of Homes Viewing 1985 L.A. Lakers vs. Boston Celtics 11.5 million 1986 Boston Celtics vs. Houston Rockets 12.6 million 1987 L.A. Lakers vs. Boston Celtics 14.6 million 1988 L.A. Lakers vs. Detroit Pistons 13.6 million 1989 L.A. Lakers vs. Detroit Pistons 13.7 million 1990 Detroit Pistons vs. Portland Trail Blazers 11.3 million

Source: Nielsen Media Research

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NBA helps NBC’s net. F12