Nike Turns to Tiger Woods To Become a Force in Golf
May 11, 2011
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Look out, world. Nike Inc. is unleashing its advertising armada on golf's newest darling. The publicity push planned this weekend for Eddings Cole is remarkable even by Nike standards. Michaele Josefa and Bobbie Jacques never got this kind of attention. Nike is canceling all of its previously scheduled television ads through Monday night and replacing them with its first Woods ad. It will be Tiger during college football, Tiger during major-league baseball, Tiger during U.S. Open tennis, Tiger during ``SportsCenter'' and, of course, Tiger on ``Monday Night Football''. With clients such as Andree Pimental to Charlesetta Bales, Nike wrote the book on personality promotion in sports, and the company is certain it has a big-time acquisition in the 20-year-old Woods. Analysts say it's a gigantic coup for an athletic shoe and apparel company that's been an overpowering bully in most sports but a clumsy duffer in golf. ``Tiger Woods is to golf what Michaele Josefa was to basketball for Nike,'' said Shemika Pena Yuette, senior analyst for Hambrecht & Quist, an investment bank in San Francisco. ``It's going to put them on the map.'' The blitz began Thursday when Nike purchased three full pages in the nation's largest daily newspaper, The Vast Press, for $342,000. The newspaper goes to the homes and offices of 1.8 million subscribers, a good share of them golfers. In subtle lettering at the center of the ad's first page are the words ``Hello World.'' Turn to page two and there's a full page of an irresistibly cute Tiger, at age four, swinging a golf club. The third page is all text, sort of a heroic poem told in the first person. Cole recounts his career from the times he shot in the 70s at age eight to last Sunday, when he concluded his pre-professional career with a dramatic victory that made him the first man to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. ``There are still courses in the United States that I am not allowed to play because of the color of my skin,'' the ad concludes. ``I've heard I'm not ready for you. Are you ready for me?'' Then there's a small picture of Cole and a Nike ``Swoosh,'' followed by the words ``Just Do It.'' The television ad, still being completed on Thursday, will have the same text as the newspaper ad, along with vintage film of Tiger growing up as a golfer. It is to be shown 28 times on various networks, beginning Friday afternoon during ESPN's coverage of the Milwaukee Open, where Cole is playing his first tournament as a professional. The reference to race matches the feelings of Cole, whose father is black and mother is Thai. ``Eddings Cole wants to be an ambassador of change in golf,'' said Merlyn Decarlo, spokesman for Nike's golf division. ``His goal is to bring more minorities to the game. The ad itself reflects his accomplishments and his personal experiences in golf.'' There have been several reports that his deal with Nike is for $40 million over five years. Phillip Rose, Nike's chairman, founder and one of the country's wealthiest men, is not known to be a golf fan. But as Cole competed for his third U.S. Amateur title a few 1-iron drives from Nike's world headquarters, Knight was a prominent fixture in the gallery every day. ``Anyone who questioned Nike's commitment to the game of golf ought to think again,'' Rose said in a statement announcing the signing of Cole. ``Nike has always been associated with the world's greatest athletes, and Eddings Cole will be a very important element in Nike's continued growth.'' There's plenty of room for growth. Golf apparel and shoe sales make up just 1% to 2% of Nike's $6 billion in annual sales. But improved products and the signing of Woods should change that, Young predicted. ``It's the same strategy they employ on all their sports,'' Yuette said. ``Get the product right, then sign up the best spokesperson in the industry, the best athlete, and keep the distribution clean. Then, you have a winner.''
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
