Athlete Commercial Value (Beyond The Talent)

The 140 character, real-time talking space known as Twitter has revolutionarily bridged the communication gap between celebrities (politicians, movie/television stars, musical artists, athletes, etc.) and respective fans across the world. From expressing thoughts, to interacting with fans, to posting personal photographs/videos, Twitter has helped to cultivate a transparent online public sphere, humanizing celebs and establishing a sentiment of personal authenticity among fans. 

Moreover, Twitter has opened up endless opportunities for personal marketing and branding. While obvious that social branding for celebs/athletes is still enjoying its formative years, those who capitalize early place themselves in a position to reap the greatest benefits (a reality repeatedly illustrated as marketing mediums have evolved/emerged throughout time). Social opportunities exist for virtually all celebrities, but in keeping with the theme of my previous posts, I will focus on the athlete. 

The revolutionary nature of personal social branding has unsurprisingly inspired troves of articles/criticisms, so running a simple Google search of "athlete social branding" will generously provide you with a wide array of examples. However, among the related content littered across the web, one Wall Street Journal article by Daniel Barbarisi caught my eye:  Yankees' Swisher Takes Center Stage. Rather uniquely, the article delves into the nature of athlete social branding, highlighting the social presence of then-Yankees slugger Nick Swisher. While a GREAT read as a whole, the most interesting subject matter deals with the new-found social branding opportunities for the "mid-level"(not necessarily superstars) player: 

"This is the emerging norm—these [mid-level] athletes now have an ability to establish and build and then extend their brands, and break through a lot of the clutter. For many years, with traditional media, the top endorsers did well. They had a lot of notoriety and strong followings, and a lot of other athletes were relegated to the local supermarket openings, and cutting the ribbon at car dealerships." - David Carter, Money Games

Swisher, while fitting into this category of "mid-level" for his contributions on the baseball diamond, he is widely known for his energetic personality and sense of humor (need I say more?: KevJumba vs. NY Yankee Nick Swisher Ping Pong FaceOFF). Social outlets like Twitter give Mr. Swisher the opportunity to broadcast his personality... and with this strong social presence comes the money (courtesy of Mercedes, in the case of the above article). No longer are marketing dollars solely destined for the pockets of the superstars/celebs (i.e. Brad Pitt or Albert Pujols). Now, courtesy of social media, transparency allows the "mid-level" athletes/celebs to build their personal brands through: 

1) professional notoriety, AND
2) personality

Moving forward, expect more athletes and celebrities like Mr. Swisher to take advantage of the lucrative status/personality cocktail.