• by Karl Greenberg , September 2, 2008

The endorsement deals are filling in-boxes of Olympic gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin and fellow gold-winning Olympian 16-year-old Shawn Johnson. The latter has deals with Adidas, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Land Rover and others to be announced. Liukin--who won five medals including one gold, three silvers and one bronz--has signed with AT&T, Visa, Adidas, Cover Girl and Wheaties, where she will appear on cereal boxes this week.

But first in line is a two-year endorsement deal with youth and young-adult apparel brand Vanilla Star Jeans. The gymnast is appearing in print, online, outdoor ads and promotional events aligned with the Vanilla Star "Smart Girls Rock" back-to-school push that began last week.

In addition to appearing in ads in national magazines, buses, kiosks and billboards in New York and Los Angeles, she is promoting the brand via store appearances. She appeared at JCPenney on Saturday in Plano, Texas, where both she and the department store chain are headquartered.

Mark Levy--president of the New York-based apparel company, and speaking from Plano before a parade down main street in Liukin's honor ending at the flagship department store on Saturday--said the company has been promoted by Emily Osment, co-star of "Hanna Montana" and sister of movie actor Haley Joel Osment. He says the company has also inked a deal with Kate Vogel, folk singer and actor on CW's "One Tree Hill."

Levy says that Liukin embodies the brand's "anti-jean" philosophy by opposing the trend of exploiting young teens' bodies in its ads. "We always try to find personalities that our core Vanilla Star customer is attracted to and will set a good example," he said.

As part of the effort--the company's largest to date--VanillaStarJeans.com has video and photos from the athlete's Vanilla Star photo shoot, and from an interview.

Levy says that creative was done in-house with promotional and PR support via NY-based The Promotion Factory.

"We really think she could be one of the few Olympic athletes with more than a three-month 'shelf life' because of her personality and graciousness," he says. Liukin will also make appearance on behalf of the brand at Macy's and at NASDAQ, where she will ring the closing bell in September.