Marketing Yao exercise in patience Management team taking things slow with Rockets rookie By DANNY O'NEIL SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER HOUSTON -- Yao Ming doesn't start at center for the Houston Rockets. Not yet. But the 7-foot-6 rookie from China sits in the middle of the team's marketing strategy, which includes banners with Yao's picture and the slogan, "Something big is about to happen." It just won't happen immediately. Not on the court, where Yao played 11 minutes in his NBA debut -- fewest for a top pick in 25 years. Not in commercials, where his only endorsement deal is with Nike and dates to his tenure with the Shanghai Sharks. Yao and the management team around him are exercising patience over the immediate payday. Finding a comfortable level in the NBA before cashing in. The temptation is to cast him as an immediate one-man multinational corporation -- the first player from Asia or Europe to be chosen with the top pick in the NBA draft, the league's largest addition in size and significance. But slow down. That's what the marketing team around Yao is doing in terms of his play and payment potential of commercials. He isn't just a 22-year-old rookie. He's a 22-year-old rookie playing center, the position that typically has the longest learning curve in the league. Yao is trying to find his footing on the court first. "He shares the long-term approach and realizes that the patience will pay off," said Bill Sanders, part of the marketing team assembled around Yao. Sanders works for Bill Duffy Associates Sports Management, a company based in Walnut Creek, Calif., that is coordinating the marketing of Yao. Starbucks is a staple for Yao. Arrive for lunch and he offers water, coffee or bottled frappuccino, and Sanders said that any beverage endorsement involving Yao will include a provision that allows him the option of sponsoring Starbucks, too. "He likes Starbucks so much it's almost laughable," Sanders said. There are not deals yet, but that's by design. The plan is to let him find his footing on the court before jumping into the commercial aspects. There's a team approach to Yao's marketing. There are students from one of the top business schools in the nation: the University of Chicago, where Erik Zhang is a second-year graduate student in business. Zhang crossed paths with Yao in 1996 when Yao's parents asked his help in finding shoes for their son in the United States. The shoe was size 16 or 17, and the fit was natural between the two. Zhang was asked by Yao's family to represent him. Zhang, 28, quickly realized that representing Yao was a mountain of a task that would require more resources. Aboard came John Huizinga, a former college basketball player who is deputy dean for the business school at the University of Chicago, which has become a hub of sorts for promoting Yao. There's a class at the school sponsored by Yao to determine a marketing strategy for him. Ten second-year grad students meet three times a week under the guidance of professor Jonathan Frenzen. "He's a real person with a dynamic and changing career," Frenzen said. "Usually we're looking at something with the more static attributes of a packaged product." As the study progresses, so do the questions of Yao's next commercial step. "We're waiting on more conclusive information as to what his image really means to people and how best to expose and enhance that image," Zhang said. Something big is about to happen. It's just going to take a little patience. "He has a feel for the game," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. "And it's just a matter of time on the floor until he figures out what he can get away with."
I'm not sure if SF is patient enough for this development. Since the beginning of the training camp, he has shown his eagerness for Rox to be more than just a good team. And not soon, but now.
