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Return Of The Wayward Woods Brand

Last December, Tiger Woods dropped out of professional golf after a Thanksgiving weekend car wreck turned his personal life into a "car wreck." Since then, Mr. Woods has issued a public apology for his extramarital affairs, undergone treatment for unspecified "issues," and put his professional career on hold.

Of course, it wasn't just Woods' personal life that was threatened but his status as a Human Brand too. He lost a handful of sponsors, Accenture being the first major company to drop Woods, but as it was best known among the general public for its Tiger Woods ads and not much else, you could kind of understand the distancing. AT&T's logo disappeared from Mr. Woods' bag and, we can only suppose, that he wasn't drinking much Gatorade after Gatorade dropped him.

The abandonment was not universal, however. Nike continues to back Woods, and days after announcing it would drop Woods from its U.S. campaigns, Tag Heuer prominently featured him on its website next to large text, "TAG HEUER stands with TIGER WOODS." Clearly, these are brands that understand American consumers have a long history of forgiving the transgressions of talented athletes of all sports persuasions.

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But, more importantly, a good deal of what has been reported regarding Woods' brand situation is a good example of "what people say" versus "what people think." If you ask people whether the extramarital affairs were a "good thing," the large majority of respondents are going to say, "No." Morality, like art, requires that you draw a line someplace, after all.

But in the interests of good research, we suggest that they add behavioral aspects to their inquiries. Something like, "The next time you need to buy a driver, would you consider the model Tiger Woods uses?" or "Will you be buying EA Sports' 'Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online'?," the introduction of which coincides with Woods' announcement that he was coming back to play in the Masters April 5 - 11 (which he has won four times).

The real question isn't whether he'll win the tournament, but whether he'll win back the fans. We've already gone on record suggesting that at the first 400-yard drive, a good deal of his past transgressions will evaporate like mist on a sunny fairway.

There's the golf joke that goes, there's no game like golf: You go out with three friends, play 18 holes and return with three enemies. As this is no joke for Mr. Woods, we can only suppose that with this round of golf he's hoping to return with millions of fans.

2 comments about "Return Of The Wayward Woods Brand".
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  1. Steve Lundin from bigfrontier, April 7, 2010 at 10:49 a.m.

    Bob:

    I agree that as soon as he hits the ball all will be forgiven - nobody really wanted to dislike the guy anyway. This is not a Michael Vick situation - an athlete who didn't have time to make himself likable and fluffy - like - OJ for example. Here's my take on using celebrities - especially athletes - to sell your brand:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeVlOjkgaM4.

    My perspective is that using celebrity endorsers is a creative cop out all the way down the line - and is a move suggested by lazy agencies who know their clients have way too much money to spend and live by the mantra "nobody ever got fired over buying IBM." Some of the most famous ads of the 20th century featured nothing but the product "Think small," "Think different" and my favorite: "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's Real Jewish Rye." Snarf, snarf (R. Crumb)

  2. Mickey Lonchar from Quisenberry, April 7, 2010 at 12:01 p.m.

    Nice take on the relationship between Tiger and his sponsors. But no one has to be breathing a sigh of relief like the PGA. Read more here. http://ow.ly/1vDmM

    http://www.quisenblog.com twitter.com/mickeylonchar

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