Advertisers Vying for Olympic Figure Skaters

Madison Avenue image makers look at most Winter Olympics athletes and cringe. Skiers are hidden behind goggles and layers of protective gear. Speed skaters--wrapped from head to toe in Martian-like garb--can’t be told apart. And the lugers look like car crash dummies.

There is, however, one notable exception: the female figure skaters.

They are marketable elegance on ice. That is why, many months before the Olympics began, advertisers began scouting--and in some cases touting--the women skaters. The gold medal in the event will be decided later this week.

It is no accident that former gold medalist Katarina Witt is peddling Diet Coke during the Winter Games. And two gold medal figure skating favorites in this year’s competition, Americans Kristi Yamaguchi and Tonya Harding, already have advertisers in their oh-so-hip pockets.

“Let’s face it--sex sells,” said Dr. Joyce Brothers, the noted psychologist and radio talk show host. “You have fresh-faced, beautiful young women in skimpy costumes. And they haven’t been worn out yet doing gobs of commercials.”

Figure skating is the “ultimate theater,” said Marty Blackman, president of the New York sports marketing firm Blackman & Raber. “You have a solo performer with a spotlight only on her. Where else do you get that in sports?”

What’s more, the woman who skates off with the gold medal will be remembered favorably by American consumers for many months.

“It’s hard to ignore the person who just won the most important event in the Winter Olympics,” said Sam Craig, chairman of the marketing department at New York State University. “Any advertiser who hooks on gets a free ride for a while.”

Perhaps that is why many advertisers have already cast their nets among the top female figure skaters--particularly the Americans. Sure, Witt has seen some success with product endorsers, but sports marketers say she would be a much bigger hit if she was born in East Hampton instead of the former East Germany.

Among the medal winners, “marketability depends first on nationality and second on personality,” said Michael Rosenberg, who is Harding’s business manager and was formerly an agent for former gold medalist Dorothy Hamill.

Yamaguchi, who is the gold medal favorite, already has endorsement contracts with Kellogg’s Special K cereal, Kraft Foods, Evian water and Ray-Ban sunglasses. And Harding, who is viewed as a bit more of a gamble to win the gold, also has inked an endorsement deal with Texaco. Both women also have Nutrasweet contracts.

Texaco executives insist that Harding--who is featured in a TV spot--represents more than an attempt to sell gasoline. “We’re not using her to endorse our product--like someone on a box of Wheaties,” said Anita Stewart, director of advertising. “We’re using her to endorse our company.”

Meanwhile, Kraft not only signed on Yamaguchi, but also her mother, Carole, who doubles as her daughter’s manager and publicist. The two will be featured in a Kraft mother-daughter cookbook that will be marketed after the Olympics are over.

Whoever wins the gold medal clearly hopes to follow in the footsteps of Witt, who, besides her Diet Coke endorsements, also has her own line of Danskin active wear.

Witt’s sensuous Diet Coke commercial--featuring her skating in red hot pants--is being aired in more than 100 countries during the Winter Games, said Peter S. Sealey, director of global marketing for Coke.

“Her personality is appropriate anywhere,” he said.

Until recently, U.S. Olympic skaters were not allowed to sign on with sponsors and compete in the Games. But the rules were relaxed, and now skaters can promote products. But earnings must be placed in a special trust fund that they can draw on only for training purposes--or after they become professionals.

Most sports marketers say it was Peggy Fleming--winner of the gold medal in 1968--who changed the way Madison Avenue perceived Winter Olympics champions.

“She was the first to exploit TV to the Nth degree,” Rosenberg said. “She became like a movie star.”

Fleming not only became a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola, but also the National Pork Producers Council, Nutra/System, Trident sugarless gum, Uncle Ben’s rice and others. Eight years later, Hamill skated off with the gold and has since appeared in ads for Ford, Clairol and Bausch & Lomb.

Fleming and Hamill are believed to have each raked in upward of $3 million in product endorsement contracts over their careers. And each has starred in nationally touring ice shows, which today pay top stars up to $1 million per year.

While both Fleming and Hamill are attractive women, in the end it was the gold medals that clinched them advertising stardom, sports marketing experts say.

“If you don’t win the gold medal, you might as well stay home,” Blackman said.

People don’t even remember who wins the silver or bronze medals, said Rosenberg, who is at the Olympics in Albertville, France, this week cheering on several skaters he represents. “It’s the gold medal or nothing. Period. End of conversation.”

Just ask American Jill Trenary, who placed fourth in figure skating in the 1988 Olympics. Sure, she was signed in 1990 as a spokeswoman for the in-line skates Ultra-Wheels.

At the time, executives at Minneapolis-based First Team Sports believed that she was a top contender for a gold medal in the 1992 Winter Games. But an injury has since forced her to retire.

As a result, her contract with First Team, which expires this month, is not being renewed, said John Egart, vice president of marketing for the firm. “If she had won the gold this year,” he said, “of course, we would have renewed the contract.”

Briefly

Although the $10-million Daihatsu account will disappear later this year when the Japanese car company leaves the U.S. market, its Santa Monica agency Kresser/Craig has no plans to lay off employees. . . . Looking for respectability, New York’s troubled Clio Awards have named the producer of the Belding Awards, Sandra Inbody-Brick, as executive producer of the Sept. 14 ceremony. . . . San Diego-based Phillips-Ramsey Advertising has won the ad account for Rancho Dominguez-based Giant Bicycle. . . . Pacific/West Communications Group has won the $1.6-million ride-sharing marketing program for California’s Department of Transportation. . . . The Los Angeles agency Valdes Zacky Associates has won a Spanish language ad project for the Dole Packaged Foods business. . . . The San Juan Capistrano marketing firm Lupo & Associates has added client United Sports Technologies of Dallas. . . . Irvine-based Wakeman & deForrest will handle marketing for International Teletrac Systems Inc.’s stolen vehicle locater service. . . . Lee Liu & Tong, a New York agency specializing in ads for the Asian-American market, has opened a Los Angeles office.

Skating for Endorsement Gold

Female figure skaters are the Winter Olympics athletes most sought after to endorse products. Here are some current and past gold medal winners--and medal hopefuls--and products they’ve endorsed:

Kristi Yamaguchi: Kellogg’s Special K, Evian drinking water, Kraft Foods, Ray-Ban sunglasses and NutraSweet

Tonya Harding: Texaco, NutraSweet and Riverside Jeep in Portland, Ore.

Katarina Witt: Diet Coke and Danskin active wear

Dorothy Hamill: Tab, Ford Tempo, NutraSweet, Bausch & Lomb and Clairol hair products

Peggy Fleming: Coca-Cola, National Pork Producers Council, National Canned Food Assn., Nutri/System, Trident sugarless gum, Uncle Ben’s rice, Ocean Spray, McCall’s clothing patterns and Kellogg’s Bran Flakes

Debi Thomas: Campbell Soup and Raytheon