Going for the Gold : Advertisers Race to Sign Olympic Medalists

Don’t look at it as the end of the Olympic Games. Think of it as the beginning of an even more high-stakes competition: the Endorsement Games.

Several top American medal winners from the Winter Olympics--most notably Nancy Kerrigan and Dan Jansen--are already well into the process of what few before them have accomplished to any great extent: cashing in.

On Monday, Revlon announced a multiyear endorsement contract with Kerrigan, estimated to be worth nearly $2 million. Late last week, Jansen and skater Bonnie Blair were both snatched by AT&T; to tout its long-distance service in television spots.

Even without a gold medal dangling from her neck, sports marketers say, silver medalist Kerrigan--who already has Disney, Reebok and Campbell Soup under her belt--may soon line up annual endorsements exceeding $10 million. Speedskater Jansen is expected to rack up about $3 million in sponsorship fees. Blair, who has gathered more Olympic medals than any American woman in history, could amass $2 million in product endorsements. And even Tommy Moe, a little-known skier who sped off with two medals, could pocket $1 million.

“We’re in uncharted territory,” said Arthur Kaminsky, president of the New York-based sports marketing firm Athletes & Artists. “From a marketing standpoint, no Olympics has ever had ratings or consumer interest like this.”

But two little-known American gold medal winners are not generally viewed by sports marketers as likely product endorsement candidates: Cathy Turner, who won gold for her short-track skating but was disqualified by officials from a second short-track event, and Diann Roffe-Steinrotter, who won the women’s super giant slalom but who sports marketers say lacks the charisma for most major corporate sponsors.

Tonya Harding, perhaps the most closely watched athlete of the Olympics--who finished eighth in the women’s figure skating competition--has already cashed in by selling exclusive interviews to tabloid TV shows. She is not, however, expected to land big endorsement deals.

But not for lack of trying. Harding’s representatives recently contacted No Excuses jeans, a company that built its image by using provocative women in its ads, including Donna Rice and Marla Maples. “At this point, we have no plans to use her,” said Dari Marder, vice president of marketing at No Excuses. “We want somebody a little more universally liked.”

Despite paying Harding $25,000 to help with her Olympic-related finances, Nike officials said Monday that she will have no endorsement career with the company. “It’s not in the cards,” Nike spokesman Keith Peters said.

So unusual was this Winter Olympics that for the first time ever, an American athlete who didn’t win a gold medal--Kerrigan--is still expected to race off with what could be the all-time endorsement gold. This despite the fact that Kerrigan may have taken some luster off her own shining image by skipping the Olympic closing ceremonies Sunday for a commercial venture to Disney World and then publicly complaining that she should have won the gold medal.

“Nancy Kerrigan will be the only American in Olympic history to cash in on the silver medal,” said Andrew Woolf, chairman of the Beverly Hills-based sports marketing firm World Class Sports. “In her case, silver is virtually as good as gold.”

Just ask Revlon, which inked its contract with Kerrigan shortly after her silver medal routine Friday night. “If she had been shut out from the medals, we would have still signed her,” a Revlon spokesman on Monday said. Revlon will air its first Kerrigan TV spot during the Academy Awards on March 21. The ads are scheduled to be filmed this week.

For Kerrigan, endorsements clearly took precedence over the Olympic closing ceremonies. She skipped the event Sunday, instead flying with her family to Orlando, where she joined Mickey Mouse to lead a parade down Main Street. A Disney TV spot featuring her--filmed before the Olympics--began airing Saturday, the night after Kerrigan won the silver medal.

Disney announced its contract with Kerrigan after the Winter Games began. Among other things, the deal--estimated at nearly $2 million--includes a made-for-TV film about her life.

“The sky is the limit for Nancy Kerrigan,” Kaminsky said. “I don’t know of a single athlete who has ever received so much positive publicity in such a short time--for free.”

Many of the top athletes began lobbying marketers months before the Games began. Jansen’s marketing team, for example, sent brochures with background information on the speed skater to all the Olympic sponsors and to dozens of potential sponsors.

“We primed the pump that he’d be skating for the gold,” said Frank Vuono, president of Integrated Sports International, which represents Jansen.

A letter boasting of Jansen’s victory was prepared “and kept in the ready” before both the 500-meter and 1,000-meter speed skating events, Vuono said. After Jansen won the gold medal in the 1,000-meter race, the marketing firm sent the letters to the companies by fax.

AT&T; responded quickly. An ad featuring Jansen and Blair making long-distance calls back home is scheduled to air during tonight’s Grammy Awards telecast.

And Jansen is also being besieged for the motivational speakers circuit, where executives say he will pull in up to $15,000 per speech.

Insurance giant John Hancock has never asked Jansen to speak to its executives. But since Jansen won the gold medal, it has already booked him for two appearances.

“We tend to go for people who have been medalists,” said Ralph Brunner, spokesman at John Hancock Financial Services. “It happens to be the vehicle that makes people more widely recognized.”

Marc Reede, who books speeches for athletes, has set several corporate speaking dates for Jansen. “Everyone wants their sales teams to never take no for an answer. Dan Jansen’s career epitomizes that,” said Reede, president of Beverly Hills-based Nationwide Speakers Bureau.

Blair’s agent declined to estimate how much his client might make in endorsement fees. But “from a marketing standpoint, we’ll do better than in any previous Olympics,” said Parkes Brittain, vice president at Washington-based Advantage International. Blair already has several top sponsors, including Kellogg, Jeep and Evian.

Downhill skier Moe, who won a gold medal and a silver, expects some fat financial rewards from his performance.

“No doubt his price has gone up since he won the gold medal,” said Todd Schlopy, president of Park City, Utah-based Action Sports Management, which has represented Moe for years. “But we’re not going to turn our backs on people who got him where he is.”

Moe currently has a handful of ski equipment endorsement contracts that expire in April. Schlopy said Moe intentionally held off from extending the contracts before the Games, hoping he’d win an Olympic medal. As a result, Moe’s endorsement income, said Schlopy, “will probably triple.”

Briefly . . .

The Santa Monica ad agency Rubin Postaer & Associates has parted with its $8-million account for Miller’s Outpost. . . . The Los Angeles agency Cohen/Johnson has picked up a client it formerly handled, the $8-million ad business for Chi-Chi’s restaurants. . . . After complaints and a threatened boycott from citizens of Todi, Italy, Visa has pulled a TV spot in which two tourists unwittingly trade their camera for a donkey. . . . Buena Vista Home Video has contacted a number of Southern California agencies about its estimated $3-million creative account. . . . Los Angeles ad veteran Craig Campbell, whose agency Campbell & Wagman closed earlier this year, has been named chief executive of the Los Angeles office of the ad agency EvansGroup. . . . Brentwood agency Stein Robaire Helm has lost the estimated $1-million account for Teva Sport Sandals, which the Carpinteria-based firm moved in-house. . . . L.A. Gear, the sneaker maker whose ad account has been with the Los Angeles office of Ogilvy & Mather for less than six months, is holding discussions with other agencies. . . . Reebok is reportedly unhappy with its highly paid top endorser and basketball star Shaquille O’Neal.

Olympic Endorsement Gold

The Winter Olympics are over, but the competition for commercial gold is just heating up. Four American medal winners--Nancy Kerrigan, Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair and Tommy Moe--are considered bona fide contenders for lucrative endorsement contracts. Here are the companies that have them under contract as product endorsers, as well as potential suitors.

Athlete Current sponsors Potential sponsors Nancy Kerrigan Reebok, Campbell Soup, Disney, Soft drink, fashion, Revlon, Seiko, Xerox apparel Dan Jansen NFL Properties, AT&T;, Apex-One, Insurance, computer, Miller Brewing, Kellogg financial Bonnie Blair Jeep, Rollerblade, AT&T;, Xerox, Soft drink, high-tech, Evian, Kellogg, banking National Frozen Food Assn. Tommy Moe Subway, Dynastar skis, Smith Telecommunications, goggles, Alaska Seafood automotive Marketing Institute