O’Neal Appeal: Big Deal : Before Long, Shaquille Is Expected to Streak Past ‘Air Jordan’ as NBA Marketing Force

Shaquille O’Neal might be the best big man since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And he just might turn out to be a bigger pitchman than Michael Jordan.

Jordan is currently making more money off the court than O’Neal, but the Orlando Magic’s superstar rookie is more precocious than “Air Jordan” ever was.

Before long, the “Shaq” is expected to streak past the ubiquitous Jordan as a marketing force.

O’Neal has a seven-year contract with the Magic for about $40 million. Even more impressive is the latest estimate from long-term endorsements: $70 million, with products that include Reebok, Pepsi, Spalding and Kenner Toys, among others.

O’Neal has his own business firm, Management Plus Enterprises, his personalized logo, a signature ball and his own line of clothing.

And he’s only 21 years old.

“It’s been like a thermonuclear explosion,” says O’Neal’s agent, Leonard Armato, “more than people imagined, I’m sure.”

Reebok, O’Neal’s most lucrative endorsement, seconds the motion.

“(O’Neal’s impact) is absolutely way beyond anyone expected,” says Roberto Muller, president of Reebok Sports which signed O’Neal to a multi-year contract reportedly worth $20 million. “We were more lucky than we were smart.”

Ironically, Jordan’s endorsement company, Nike, passed on O’Neal because of the belief that centers don’t make good endorsers. The thinking was that big men don’t have the flair of players who dribble, run and shoot from all over the floor.

Plus, it’s generally thought that the intimidating size of centers make them seem more unapproachable and less relatable to the average fan. Wilt Chamberlain once remarked that “nobody loves Goliath,” a statement that has haunted him.

But just about everybody loves Shaq, thanks to a blend of power and innocence that makes him appealing to young and old alike. As Armato says, “He is a cross between the Terminator and Bambi.”

At 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds, O’Neal’s figure is impressive. But he is more than just a curiosity in the NBA because of his wide-body size. O’Neal has made an impact with the flair of his play and boyish enthusiasm.

A player of the year in college at Louisiana State, O’Neal was good enough to be the first NBA rookie to be an all-star since Jordan. Interestingly, O’Neal scored 14 points in his first NBA all-star game; Jordan only had 7 in 1985, his NBA debut as an all-star.

Good as Jordan is, he never made the impact on the league in his first season that O’Neal has.

O’Neal is among the NBA’s leading scorers, rebounders and shot-blockers, and he has broken hydraulic basket supports and shattered backboards with his powerful dunks. But it’s not just O’Neal’s often-spectacular play that has marketers cheering. Muller thinks that O’Neal’s assets go way beyond physical accomplishments.

“In Shaquille, we have the charisma of Magic Johnson, the talent of the NBA’s legendary centers, and a personality that supersedes Michael Jordan,” says Muller. “It took Jordan three years to have the same impact that Shaq had in three months.”

An indication of O’Neal’s popularity was no more evident at the NBA all-star game when his jersey was put up for bid at an auction to benefit the NBA’s Stay in School program. It sold for $55,000. Moments later, Jordan’s jersey went for $20,000.

“Shaquille is multi-dimensional,” Muller says. “He has a nice smile, he’s charismatic. He’s a great athlete with great facial expressions. He’s a natural actor.”

Apparently, Paramount Pictures thinks so, too. O’Neal has signed to do a movie with Nick Nolte called “Blue Chips” that will be shot this summer.

O’Neal’s initial work in front of a camera took place last fall when he shot two commercials for Reebok with some of basketball’s best-known centers of the past: Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton.

Despite their enormous talents, none of those players possessed the camera-friendly personality of O’Neal, who looks like just what he is--a big kid having fun playing basketball. It’s the reason that Reebok made O’Neal the centerpiece of a campaign to try to overtake Nike in the sneaker field.

“He’s the biggest investment we’ve made in a single athlete,” Muller says.

O’Neal’s impact has been explained in a variety of ways:

--A great nickname (“They can say Shaq in Chinese, Japanese and Italian,” says Armato).

--Great timing: O’Neal arrived in pro basketball when it had just lost Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, two of its three biggest endorsers and stars.

--Great packaging: Armato’s company created a “Shaq Attack” logo--the name SHAQ superimposed over a silhouette of O’Neal dunking.

In his marketing strategy, Armato has taken some pages from Jordan’s book and written a new chapter. With 13 national endorsement contracts, Jordan reportedly makes about $32 million a year. He could be considered overexposed, his image fragmented.

“I don’t want to criticize (Jordan) because he’s made a lot of money and he’s incredible,” Armato says. “(But) our plan is to do very few national commercials because we want every image of Shaq to be special and unique.

“We’d like to limit the number of national television commercials because I don’t want Shaq ever to be thought of as a pitchman.”

As a result, O’Neal will only have two national TV endorsements this year: Reebok and Pepsi. Along with Kenner and Spalding, O’Neal’s other deals include a game for Tiger Electronics, a “Shaq Track” video, cards for Classic Trading Cards, memorabilia for Scoreboard and NBA products for the NBA.

Spalding, for one, didn’t worry for a minute whether a center would make a good endorser.

“If there’s any stigma to centers not being marketable, he’s absolutely crushed that,” says John Doleva, director of marketing for Spalding’s leisure products group.