Ad Age posted an article recently about Tiger Woods and his effect on Nike. Everyone knows the story of his scandal, so no need to go into that, but they decided to take another approach. Some of his top sponsorship deals for companies, Gatorade, AT&T, and Accenture felt his scandal would be disastrous for their image. They decided to cut bait and drop Tiger from as a sponsor. Others such as Nike, EA Sports, NetJets, and TLC Laser Eye Centers have decided to keep him on board but limiting his role for the time being.
Some questioned whether keeping him on board as a sponsor would hurt sales and the bottom line for their company. Since Tiger went public with his confessions, Nike has lost 105,000 customers in their golf division. According to a study from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, dropping Tiger from Nike would have cost the company an additional $1.6 million in profits. The study also points out how one sponsor can affect the entire industry. Research concludes that all golf-ball companies lost $7.5 million in profits suggesting some people stopped playing golf in reaction to the scandal news. I’m not convinced that another person’s scandal would prevent me from playing golf, I think those statistics might be more of a sign of the times with economy.
Even after his scandal Tiger is still respected by many for his abilities on the golf course. He still carries many loyal followers as evidenced by his new twitter account. Just over two weeks ago Tiger began tweeting and he already has over 300,000 followers. Before Tiger’s issues were plastered all over the media he was used in promotions as a positive image, champion, and an advocate of goodwill, but now that has changed. Those who have dropped him have sought after other athletes with positive images. How Tiger will be used in commercials in the future still seems up in the air, maybe it will be more focused on his accomplishments on the course. What are your thoughts?
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