"Gatorade gets a dose of Hope in new deal"

From the SportsBusiness Journal

Review by Joseph Schwartz in KIN 435

Gatorade has added yet another nationally popular athlete to its already broad and powerful promotional arsenal. In the article “Gatorade gets a dose of Hope in new deal,” Fred Dreier of SportsBusiness Journal reported that Gatorade has signed 30-year-old, Hope Sole, who became a national icon when she led the U.S. women’s national team to the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final this past summer. Solo signed a multiyear marketing deal, joining teammate Abby Wambach who has been with Gatorade since 2004. Solo’s agent, Richard Motzkin, explained how significantly the U.S. women’s team’s success in the World Cup contributed to her “staggering” increase in awareness with the general public. Solo’s national popularity following the 2011 World Cup has drawn comparisons to that of Mia Hamm’s prominence in 1999 when she led the U.S. women’s national team to win the World Cup over China. Followers of Solo on Twitter skyrocketed from 8,000 to over 250,000 in just over a week following the 2011 World Cup. The article estimates the deal to be in the low six-figure range per year and Motzkin claims for there to be more marketing deals on the horizon for Solo, as she has already signed a deal with Bank of America. Gatorade has sponsored the U.S. women’s national team since 1999 and one of their marketing representatives stated, “Solo is part of Gatorade’s push to diversify its athlete base.” Solo’s popularity among consumers has placed her on par with Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat on the Davie Brown Index (DBI), as her overall awareness jumped to over 6 percent just in the week leading up to the Women’s World Cup Championship against Japan. According to president of Burns Entertainment, Dough Shabelman, “Solo’s combination of leadership, success on the field, physical attractiveness and a recognizable name give her an opportunity to maintain marketability.” With her large increase in positive publicity, Hope Solo should be a huge marketing success for Gatorade. Gatorade will now be able to implement her into advertising commercials in hopes of broadening their outreach to their desired target market.

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Review by Cara Stecher in KIN 435

The article that we did or our sponsorship article project on was an article entitled “Gatorade gets a dose of Hope in new deal.” This article talked about Hope Solo, goalie for the US Women’s Soccer team, and her new deal with Gatorade. The article tells a little bit about the deal, including that deal was worth somewhere in the six figures. The deal is part of Gatorade’s plan to diversify its athlete base, including other signing deals with other athletes competing in surfing, men’s soccer, and swimming. Typically when someone thinks of Gatorade, we think of more mainstream sports such as football, baseball, and basketball. It is smart for Gatorade to diversify the sports that they are beginning to sponsor so that they can reach as many potential consumers as they possibly can. A person who is a surfer or swimmer maybe more inclined to drink Gatorade products if an athlete in their sport is drinking it. Also, soccer is gaining more and more popularity in the United States and could potentially be a major sport within America.

One of the main goals of the article was to describe the marketability of Hope Solo. It talked about her followers on Twitter jumping from 8,000 followers to 250,000 followers in a little over a week. This shows that due to the women’s soccer success at the World Cup these female athletes are gaining more and more attention. Also, it talked about her impact within the sports world. She has a DBI (Davie Brown Index) similar to Dwyane Wade, which is huge because he is a major name within the sports world. She was also on the cover of Sports Illustrated, increasing to her popularity as well.

Another interesting topic that the article discussed was the fact that Solo is gaining attention for more than just her performance on the soccer field. It attributed to her fame mostly for her athletic abilities, but it also credited her physical attractiveness as being a reason why she has gained so much attention so quickly. Which brings up an interesting question, does an athlete’s physical appearance play a part in the marketability of that particular athlete, especially for female athletes? This can certainly be shown in other sports, for example Jennie Finch (softball), Danica Patrick (racing), Anna Kournikova (tennis), etc.

All in all, I think this article was very intriguing and really showed what attributed to Solo’s fame and how quickly she attained it. Gatorade is very smart for signing a deal with her because she is a female athlete and she is a soccer player, which is two markets that could potentially be big money makers for the company.