After his victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, Tiger Woods regained the top spot as the number one golfer in the world for the first time in nearly 3 years.
Previously, he held the top spot for nearly 12 years when his standing came crashing down along with his brand image.
Tiger’s image as a great golfer
As a golfer, Tiger brought a lot of excitement to the sport because of his talent and charisma. When he was only two years old, he captured the imagination of the golf world by hitting a golf ball with “adult-like” skill on the Mike Douglas TV show. He attended Stanford University, won numerous awards playing golf, and went on to become the youngest golfer to ever win the Masters at the age of 21.
By 2008, he won 14 major professional tournaments, and was on pace to beat Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18. These tournament victories combined with sponsorships from numerous corporations, such as Nike, made him the first athlete to top $1 billion in career earnings.
Brand elements that are a brand marketer’s dream
Marketers look for uniqueness to formulate a brand image that stands out from the crowd. In addition to Tiger’s extraordinary success at a young age, he possessed many unique attributes that made him a brand marketer’s dream.
- Unique name. While he was born Eldrick Tont Woods, his father, Earl, named him “Tiger” after a Vietnam War buddy. The good thing about Tiger is that it is uniquely memorable in the golfing universe.
- Exotic racial mix. Tiger is an exotic mix of Asian- and African-American that contributes to his uniqueness and personal brand. There are not many African Americans (or Asians) playing on the PGA Tour.
- Articulate. Tiger is articulate and soft-spoken. These skills have served him well in representing various brands.
Tiger’s personal image as a stable family man
Prior to Thanksgiving of 2009, Tiger enjoyed the image of a stable, happily married man with two young children. In fact, he had such a squeaky clean, goody-two-shoes image that he attracted numerous corporate sponsors, such as Accenture.
Serial infidelity shatters his family image
He was on such a sky-high pedestal that when reports of his serial infidelity surfaced in the media, the shocked public watched as his image tumbled and shattered into pieces. Those sponsors that were attracted to him because of his good-guy, family image dropped him– including Accenture, ATT, Gatorade division on PepsiCo, Gillette division of Procter & Gamble, Golf Digest, and Tag Heuer. Rather than employ the fact procedure (a crisis management technique that works when facts undermine an image), Tiger tried to sweep everything under the rug.
He did not understand that when the number one athlete in the world tries to do that, the pressure builds and the resultant explosion is far bigger than it would have been if he had “come clean” in the first place. Sports Illustrated estimated that lost sponsorships ended up costing Tiger $22 million in 2009. Even so, he was still number one in the publication’s list of highest earning athletes that year.
Sports sponsors remain loyal
Because Tiger cheated in his marriage and not in his sport, sports-related sponsors such as Nike and Electronic Arts stood behind him even as he fell from number 1 in the world to number 52. Their focus is, and always has been, on Tiger the golf star – not Tiger the family man. They know that athletes are often not perfect family role models. Even so, as the cheating scandal unfolded, Nike felt obligated to do something. They created the now famous commercial of a remorseful Tiger listening to the sage advice of his father, Earl Woods, talking from the grave.
Tiger effect
There is a good reason why professional golf and his sponsors have remained loyal and are excited that Tiger is back on top. They heavily depend on Tiger's charisma to build TV ratings and sponsorship money. It is called the Tiger Effect. According to Ed Sherman of the Sherman report, “NBC did a 4.4 overnight rating for Sunday’s final round in the WGC-Cadillac Championship. That was a nifty 42 percent increase over 2012, and the best Sunday for the event since 2006.” He goes on to say, “Having Woods in the lead just elevates everything to a much higher level.” Few athletes move the needle more than he does.”
As reported in a post by Jim Edwards in CBS Money Watch, a study by the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University showed that, “The entire category of golf ball brands lost $10.2 million in revenue during Woods' absence.” He also quotes Nike Golf president Cindy Davis as saying, Look at television ratings, with and without Tiger. Look at the PGA tour, attendance with and without him." When he is winning, crowds are bigger, and so are the earnings of just about everybody.
Does winning take care of everything?
Nike recently created ads to celebrate Tiger’s return to number one with the tagline, “Winning Takes Care of Everything.” As is Nike’s style, this ad has created quite a stir, and become a news story. They know that Tiger is the most popular golfer amongst golf fans at the same time that he appears on a list of America’s most disliked athletes. It is clear that since the cheating scandal, his image has split in two.
The family man image is likely gone forever. The sponsors that supported him because of this image – Gatorade, Accenture and Gillette– are also not likely to return any time soon. When it comes to his image as a sports hero, however, he is number one. His earnings and number one ranking prove it. His sports brand is alive and well. His other brand image still needs more work and perhaps more time.
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