Yao Ming's super deals By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY Yao Ming, basketball's biggest man, is about to cast his 7-foot-5-inch shadow onto the world's biggest marketing showcase: the Super Bowl. A clerk won't let Yao pay by check in a Visa ad. The Houston Rockets center will star in a Visa commercial, making its debut during the big game, in which he somehow goes unrecognized while trying to cash a check. It is Yao's third major product endorsement win — the others being Apple Computer and Got Milk? — since bolting from China to the National Basketball League last year. But the question remains: Can Yao stand tall over the long haul as a product pitchman — in the mold of a Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal? Clearly, the 22-year-old has got some catching up to do. His poor English-language skills mean he usually needs a translator. His awesome height — a turnoff for some consumers — prevents him from standing up straight in a dressing-room trailer. And even though his team recently beat the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime, Yao has no championship ring. "He has the potential to be one of the top spokespersons," says Bill Sanders, director of marketing, BDA Sports Management and one of four handlers who help Yao pick endorsements. "But he's not there yet." Industry estimates peg Yao's 2003 global endorsements at $10 million. That's far from the $40 million earned by Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, but some say Yao will amass endorsement fortunes fast. He needs to. Part of his exit deal from the Shanghai Sharks, a team in the Chinese Basketball Association, requires a payback to the team that groomed him. Yao will pay more than $8 million to his hometown team if he plays in the NBA for as long as 12 years. And the government-run CBA will get about 5% of Yao's earnings. Until he scores a ring, Yao will use the Visa Super Bowl ad and his "talent, charisma and integrity" to start him down the court toward becoming a "marketing icon," Sanders says. But don't expect him to hawk just anything. Yao's handlers insist he'll do ads only for products he likes or uses. And he won't appear in ads that make him a novelty. He already turned down a company that wanted him to wear a cowboy hat. But Visa lets Yao be Yao in its Super Bowl spot. In the ad for Visa Check Cards, Yao plays a New York tourist shopping in a souvenir shop. Store clerks apt at saying "Yo, man" refuse to let him pay by check. Yao repeatedly tries to correct them by saying "Yao Ming" but finally gives up on the purchase and walks out. The ad was created by Super Bowl veteran agency BBDO and directed by Allen Coulter, who has been behind the camera for The Sopranos for several years. "I'm rarely tempted to interfere," says Liz Silver, Visa's senior vice president, advertising. "Working with these guys, you just don't have that kind of pressure." In the commercial shoot, attended by a USA TODAY reporter, Yao wore a custom-made sweat suit modeled after his Houston Rockets warm-up. The ad was shot on location inside a store on Broadway. Yao kept his composure as 40 people with microphones, ladders and equipment crowded into a 200-square-foot space to get a shot over his shoulder. Exhausted after 70 takes over eight hours, Yao maintained a sense of humor as he compared shooting ads to shooting baskets. "In basketball," Yao says, "you don't have a chance to go back and do it again."
Where were those people who said Yao doing commercials doesn't have anything to do with his fatigue? Thanks for the article, BTW.
I didn't know they changed the name of the league from National Basketball Association, to the National Basketball League.
c'mon yall need to let yao make his paper, and plus how tiring can it be to shoot a commercial? its not like hes doing anything that'll get him injured.
I bet they got the idea for the commercial watching Moses Malone refer to Yao as "Yo Man" during the Lakers game. I honestly couldn't understand what he was talking about for a while. (Not that it is usually easy to understand Moses Malone.)
