sh*t on me if this has been posted already... All-Star center Yao quenches thirst for Gatorade -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Darren Rovell ESPN.com Be like Yao? Don't laugh. It could become a catchy jingle some day. Sports drink maker Gatorade announced on Thursday its signing of Yao Ming. The Houston Rockets' 7-foot-6 center, who will start his first All-Star Game on Sunday, could become the brand's most important athlete endorser since Michael Jordan became Gatorade's first athlete spokesperson in 1991. The multiyear deal will consist of a marketing campaign in both the United States and China, said Tom Fox, vice president of sports marketing for Gatorade. "It's amazing how he only recently came to this country and he is already a part of Americana," Fox said. "We feel he has really caught on well with the fans." This is especially important since Gatorade pulled out of the Chinese market two years ago when Pepsi started managing the brand. Since arriving in the United States in October, Yao has signed five endorsement deals and starred in commercials for Visa and Apple -- both of which signed him to one-year national deals. In a Gatorade commercial filmed on Thursday, Yao plays basketball with a kid in the neighborhood whose other playing partners include New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. "Gatorade has a great sports marketing team," said Bill Sanders, director of marketing for BDA sports management, which is part of Team Yao. "They have a tremendous track record of innovative and cutting-edge advertising, including their 'Be Like Mike' campaign." With this deal, Yao adds yet another powerful name to his portfolio. "With Visa, Nike and Gatorade we are aligning Yao with the best companies in the world," said Sanders. Team Yao is fielding at least five proposals a week from companies seeking Yao to endorse their products, Sanders said. Yao's Nike deal, carried over from his Chinese playing days with the Shanghai Sharks, expires at the end of this season. He also has deals with the Chinese cell phone company China Unicom and Sorrent, a company that will produce a Yao Ming video game for cell phones. Sanders said that Team Yao is concluding negotiations with two Web site companies -- one in China and one in the United States -- that will host his official Web sites. Although Gatorade dominates the sports drink category with over 80 percent of the market share and has been the official drink of the NBA, MLB and the NFL for decades, Fox said "it's always important to link certain athletes to our brand." http://espn.go.com/sportsbusiness/news/2003/0206/1505209.html
I think Sanders is Yao's pimp. Didn't he say in the ESPN Magazine article they would do no more commercials after the all-star break to give Yao the rest he's needed? I guess the Gatorade was his last for awhile if that's true.
i think yao should try to get stieve a part in his commercial so stieve would feel obligated to pass him the ball...
Think of how jealous the other NBA guys are that Yao is scoring major endorsements in just his rookie year. Maybe this will teach them that it is not necessary to act like street punks with attitude to gain respect and popularity and that hard work, resilience and grace under pressure as well as humility trumps flash everytime. (I still gag everytime I see re-runs of Vince Carter doing his cocky strutting and posing after making a slam in his first few years in the league.) It is apparent that the big corporations recognize Yao as a classy individual who embodies the best of sportmanship in a marketable 7'6" frame. As Bill Walton said, there is a lot that we all can learn from Yao Ming.
You are dreaming if you really think other NBA players will think this way. They (Shaq being prime example) most likely think that Yao's so popular and get so much attention just because he's Chinese.
With all the endorsments, commercials just wondering how much is Yao's net worth now????? Is he even aware or all the corporate stuff goes through team Yao?
Cara, I don't think I am dreaming with my comments - Yao projects a great image that is in line with corporate values and that is why he is getting offers from blue chip firms with savvy marketing arms. The China angle is certainly part of the appeal but the commercials he has made are for domestic US consumption and if Yao did not have a character and personality that is percieved favorably by the 96% of the US public that is not Asian, he would NOT be getting into these ads even if he were scoring 30 points a game. Case in point - would Wang Zhi Zhi create anything close to the same buzz if his circumstances and accomplishments were exactly that of Yao's? Not with that dour personality and shoot-first pass-second mentality. Pro athletes are incredibly competitive by nature and endorsements are an important yardstick that they use to gauge their overall success. Taking this as a given, Shaq must have wondered why he was not the guy in the Apple commercial with Mini-Me and why Gatorade did not offer him the endorsement even though he is, without question, the most dominant player in the NBA. Even if he will never admit it to himself, Shaq's lack of class in openly criticizing his team mates during losing spells, propensity for making witless jokes that send the wrong message (remember the incident when he was insinuating (falsely) that he was sleeping with a certain famous Hollywood actress much to her embarrasement?), difficulty in getting along with people who don't defer to him and general grandstanding makes him more suitable to be a frontman for fast food than an image leader for corporations who view themselves as industry mainstays like Apple, Gatorade and Visa. Hopefully, other athletes will eventually come to understand and embrace the true essence that makes Yao a big hit among fans of all backgrounds and races.
MadMonk, you understand, I understand but NBA players are dumb. They will be jealous but they won't understand and learn from Yao.
Cara, are you still up? Well, we can't expect that all players in the NBA will appreciate Yao's character but I think that he has gained a tremendous amount of respect among his peers by his conduct on the court in always putting forth a great effort even when he is exhausted, being a smart and unselfish player who makes his team mates better and not complaining or getting upset by the rough treatment he has been given by the various thugs in the league. Obviously, Yao still has a long way to go in his progress but I think he will eventually be emulated as a role model by young NBA players who will see him as a class act who proves that nice guys can also finish on top.
Sometimes I dream That he is me You've got to see that's how I dream to be I dream I move, I dream I groove Like Yao If I could Be Like Yao Like Yao Oh, if I could Be Like Yao Be Like Yao, Be Like Yao Again I try Just need to fly For just one day if I could Be that way I dream I move I dream I groove Like Yao If I could Be Like Yao I wanna be, I wanna be Like Yao Oh, if I could Be Like Yao
I bet this is what Yao hates to hear.....actually this is the last thing every man wants to hear STOP !! Olliez !! This is a basketball site !!
You know what, after I see Shaq's ads on TV, I no longer goes to Burger King because I do not want to be fat guy. And I no longer goes to Radio Shark because I used to think it is a shop for tech nerds but now I do think the shop is just another thrift place. Now if you put Shaq in Gatorade, I would think the drink has too much calorie in it. If yuo put Shaq on Apple ads, I would wonder if he knows how to turn on/off the computer with his fat finger. If you put Shaq in Visa ads, I would think this guy claims he comes from street ball, how the hell he would use Visa because he is supposed to deal everything with CASH only.
It also helps that many people think he is good looking dude. That was part of MJ's appeal, as well as Jeter, Tiger, and Mia Hamm. And the reason Dream and Ewing didn't get squat.
Another thing about marketing by Steve Francis: SF called Yao Dynasty and made clothes for him using his own label "We R One". But when I read somewhere about this and it says SF also wants Yao to wear them at All-Star. I start to feel uncomfortable since SF is trying to use Yao for free advertisement. You know how much it is gonna cost for Yao to endorse your product. SF should really do it the business way.
