WORLDWIDE OLYMPIC partner P&G, parent company of brands such as Gillette, Ariel and Olay, has unveiled eleven Team GB brand ambassadors in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The publicity shots released this week made for a who’s who of British Olympic medal hopes, including the 2009 world champion heptathlete and Team GB pin-up girl Jessica Ennis, as well as Olympic velodrome heroes Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.
Aside from the obvious sporting talents of the athletes in the P&G stable there is another trait they each have in common: marketability. Whether it is for previous medal successes or more aesthetic-based rationale, each of the new ambassadors have been chosen for a specific purpose and their contracts negotiated on an individual basis.
Frontloaded has it on good authority for instance that Jenna Randall, a less well-known synchronised swimmer, was chosen for her ‘model looks and surprise factor’, as well as being a genuine contender to medal next summer. Randall is likely to be paid significantly less than the more high-profile athletes such as Ennis and Hoy.
Similarly, long-distance swimmer Kerri-Anne Payne was chosen by P&G ahead of fellow British swimmer Fran Halsall – the result of Payne’s gold medal in the 10km open water event and Halsall narrowly missing out on a medal in the 100m freestyle at the swimming World Championships in Shanghai earlier this year.
Frontloaded understands that the top five British athletes are likely to earn around £150,000 from each of their Olympic endorsement contracts. This however, is likely to be substantially less than what US-swimmer and 14-time Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps is being paid by P&G for his international endorsement of shampoo brand Head and Shoulders.
P&G employed the services of GMR Marketing to set the market rates for the brokering of the British athlete endorsement contracts, but subsequent activation and sponsorship management responsibility will lie with London-based agency Hill & Knowlton Strategies.