Somebody finally stands by Tiger
January 11, 2010 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: Communication, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Travel and entertainment, Uncategorized, Web 2.0, Web sites, e-commerce
While he’s lost his lucrative jobs with AT&T and Accenture, Tiger Woods is hanging on to at least one endorsement deal:
Video game publisher Electronic Arts is set to release an online golf game soon featuring the champion duffer and philanderer.
This can only be a relief to Woods, who appears to be toxic in the marketing world these days.
Once the darling of the advertising industry, Woods has not only been cut loose from AT&T and Accenture. He’s also being shunned by Gillette, a unit of the Procter & Gamble Co., and Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, a unit of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which both say they’ll limit their use of Woods to promote products.
But it seems that the electronic gaming industry is made of tougher stuff — or at least they believe their target audience is. Electronic Arts president Peter Moore told the L.A Times that his Redwood City, CA, game company has sunk months of work on the online title.
Translation: They’re in too deep to pull out now.
Moore wrote in a blog post that the game had been tested with more than 75,000 players for the last eight months.
Although initially free to play, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online offers extra features and levels for a fee.
Moore goes on the thread a very tiny needle in his post, insisting that it’s Woods’ athletic prowess that drew EA to him, and that the company still believes in that talent.
Some of his readers, however, don’t seem so convinced. Wrote one respondent with the moniker “danEASPORTS1981″:
“wow, just admit that without tigers name the equity of the franchise goes down the crapper. unless he murders someone you aren’t going to risk losing major $$ on one of your top games. tell the PR person who wrote this for you that we we’re not stupid.”
So it would seem the electronic gaming crowd does have a floor when it comes to the behavior of their heroes: No murders.
The Electronic Arts Web site currently offers five games featuring Woods. In May, the company released one for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
And it other Woods-related online business: Some news outlets are reporting that there’s a sex tape of the golfer being shopped around the Internet, and YouTube’s featuring a video clip of former Fox news personality Brit Hume speculating that Woods needs to quit Buddhism and opt for Christianity if he’s looking for forgiveness.
My guess is Woods search isn’t so much for his soul as it is new businesses that will hire him as a product shill.
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Tags: Accenture, AT&T, Brit Hume, Electronic Arts, game, golf, online, Tiger Woods, video
January 12th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Overall, I find this article to be pretentious and foolish.
First, you need to have gone to a third grade marketing class to understand the differentiation between “family” brands and demographic brands. ATT, Accenture are family brands. Tag Huer, EA are demographic brands. It appears that your understanding of the video game industry fills barely a thimble, the next thimble of knowledge would tell you that video games are primarily dominated by male gamers. Guess who doesn’t have a problem with Tiger Woods personal issues? Males. In some circles, Tiger Woods prowess would actually increase his appeal. This is why Tag Huer is “standing by” Tiger (in contradiction to them reporting their limited use of Tiger, check their home page out), this is why Nike is “standing by” Tiger. This is why the past two weeks on Golf HD have been completely re-scheduled to show as many of Tiger’s amazing victories, showcasing his skill on the course.
Let’s say Tiger Woods lost 1 out of 4 of his fans, CBS reported that viewer ship drops 40% when Tiger is off the course. (This means that Tiger is roughly responsible for 40% of the viewership). With Tiger back on the course, he would still boost ratings back to 90% of their previous levels.
Regardless, all of this is preposterous for one reason. Tiger Woods is an American Golfer. American’s love their drama and I predict that once Tiger is back on the course we will see higher viewership than before.
I can understand why someone in the Financial world would have difficulty understanding equity in their personal life vs. their financial equity. But the most important analysis that you are missing is the inability of said companies, ATT and Accenture specifically, and their ability to leverage Tiger Woods as a brand they can identify with.
Tiger Woods may be in the rough now, but he will likely still hit green in regulation.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
OMB – who cares about Tiger anyway?
January 12th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I believe Cheetah Woods has been given way too much press over his lifestyle. However, I don’t blame those “family” companies like AT&T for disconnecting him from their product. I’ve heard about enough of Cheetah!
January 19th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Let Tiger play and do what he does well. Just don’t have anything to do with him off the green. The women also should be shunned also because they are home wreckers. Paraphrasing Oscar Wilde; Not being talked about is worse than being talked about. I, myself have never bought into any sports endorsement and more power to those who can make money off sports “heroes”.
January 19th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Valerie,
It’s hard to defend Tiger’s behavior in any respect. Acknowledge the greater tragedy. Rather than devalue his motives, say a prayer that he finds some way to help heal his children’s lives. They have lost so much more than money could ever be worth. They have lost their family. Anyway, venom and disdain is so unattractive…
January 20th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Eric: I’m not sure what “venom and disdain” you refer to in your post, however if you detect some derision in the story I wrote, please understand that it is not directed at Mr. Woods, a fine athlete and poised public personality. It is aimed at the commercialization of character — the use of people who perform well in a popular arena to sell products in a totally unrelated industry or field. Tiger Woods does not perform technology consulting. He doesn’t design or make telecommunications equipment or networks. That Accenture or AT&T use his golf skills to sell their services and products, seems to me, disingenuous and, quite frankly, silly. (The tie in to a video golf game seems not only more reasonable but logical, hence that relationship is surviving.)
My quibble with the endorsement practices of many corporations is that they attempt to trade off of people and talents that have nothing whatever to do with their products. When the endorser falls from grace, the ties that bind the company and their shill break easily and quickly.
My sympathies for Mr. Woods’ wife and children are irrelevant to the discussion. Mr. Woods rented out his character to a wide variety of companies and made a lot of money doing it. He and his family have lived comfortably and with privilege because of his endorsement deals. Now, they will also pay the price because he misrepresented the product that his customers leased. Those are the consequences of deception, and I trust Mr. Woods has learned a painful and valuable lesson. His wife and children will, no doubt, have learned one as well: Don’t trust Tiger. He’s almost as good a liar and cheater as he is a golfer.
As for your suggestion that we solicit celestial assistance for Woods and his family, I’m busy praying for Haitian earthquake victims these days. If we’re going to discuss “greater tragedies,” I suggest we start there.
January 20th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Valerie, Your point that we should be more critical about the feelings created by spokepersons for their sponsors is valid. Tiger’s golfing skills, focus and competitiveness are envied by lesser golfers. He was viewed as a paradigm example of a winner by many. When that paradigm changed, so did some of his sponsors. Not surprising. It was a commercial decision – the sponsors’ goals were no longer served. Commercialism is not a committed relationship.
Tiger rented an image. The image has not endured. Did we put Tiger on an impossible pedestal and is part of the emotion felt an anger for being “duped” and “disappointed” by an image? I am not Tiger’s apologist, just another human being mourning the pain and trouble that so many around him (and he) are in.
Haiti is completely different. We all can help in some way. Prayers for life, healing and a better tomorrow can be for all, the innocents and the others, too.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:05 am
Eric, I’m impressed by and appreciate your concern for others. That Mr. Woods damaged his family by his actions is a sad and sorry state of affairs. But I don’t agree that we set Tiger on that pedestal. He climbed up there on his own, supported and encouraged by the commercial interests that used his image to sell their wares. We have every right to be angry with both Mr. Woods and his employers for the deception. I hope this will be a sobering lesson to the endorsement industry that consumers take it badly when they are duped.
And while Mrs. Woods consoles herself on that private Swedish island and Mr. Woods licks his wounds on his yacht in the Caribbean, I’ll go back to worrying about the Haitians, who never lied to me about anything.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:29 am
Have you ever considered adding more videos to your blog posts to keep the readers more entertained? I mean I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite good but since I’m more of a visual learner.
June 22nd, 2010 at 3:30 am
how can somebody achieve so much and still not understand how google works?
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:35 am
For a long time, Tiger Woods was an example of my heroes. He epitomized fineness. Okay, I am not perfect, however, if a heroic public figure is found to be so negatively impacted, they take the hero out of heroism. Almost all one has left is “-ism” — idiot, foolish, moron. Is he a great golfer? You bet he is. Very likely he will always be thought about one of the greatest of all time.