Evening Standard: Analysis - The marketing of Wayne Rooney
By David Rowan
THE Lisbon guest list said it all. There were just 20 people at Monday night's party to celebrate Wayne Rooney's two goals against Croatia, and apart from immediate family it was the corporate sponsors who commanded the England wunderkind's attentions. "Pretty well every significant brand wants to talk to him now, from food companies to clothes firms," says one who was present. "If his game carries on like this, he has a real chance of earning at least as much off the pitch as David Beckham."
Amid awed newspaper coverage of "Roomania" and "Wayne's Whirl", the 18-year-old's management team at the Proactive Sports Group has been swamped this week with lucrative offers to sponsor the nation's newest sporting hero. The England and Everton striker already has deals worth about £10 million to promote brands such as Coca-Cola, Ford and Nike, but "Team Rooney" believes this is just the start.
"Provided he stays fit, Wayne has the potential to earn upwards of £100 million over the next decade or so," says a source working with Paul Stretford, the football agent masterminding Rooney's career. "We're emphasising that unlike Beckham, he won't ever be preoccupied with fickle fashions or the latest tattoos. Rooney's the real thing - an amazingly talented street footballer who can appeal to every kid in the world."
Even before Euro 2004, Stretford was talking about striking "substantial and record-breaking" deals for Rooney with four or five longterm blue-chip partners. He currently pulls in a reported £2 million a year in endorsements for products such as the Ford SportsKa - far less than the £15 million credited to Beckham, but a figure Stretford believes is about to jump. He is working with a fulltime team of six on the account at Proactive, part of the Formation Group, dealing with everything from Rooney merchandise to his media training.
Also, Ian Monk, the PR whose celebrity clients have included Carole Caplin and Chris Tarrant, has been brought in to build media interest in Rooney and his girlfriend Colleen McLoughlin.
But for all his footballing talent, they are no Posh 'n' Becks.
Commentators have mocked Rooney's reticence at some of his early press conferences, as well as his sometimes dishevelled appearance, particularly on collecting a BBC sports personality award. Colleen, an aspiring actress whom he met in a neighbouring Croxteth street, has certainly shown no appetite for playing the media, submitting to just one newspaper interview this year. Does this couple really promise the off-the-pitch glamour needed to secure sport's biggest commercial endorsements?
"He'll never be a fashion icon, and they'll never have that Posh 'n' Becks mass media appeal," suggests Phil Smith of First Artist, which manages more than 100 professional footballers. "But Wayne's proved this week he's a big game player who seems to revel on the big stage. If he sticks to endorsements from a few blue-chip companies strongly affiliated to football, he will do very well. The workingclass background will be the making of him." Proactive is looking to capitalise on Rooney's background as a street footballer from Liverpool who would kick around Coke cans if he could not find a ball. It has even trademarked the phrase "Rooney - Street Striker" for merchandise.
It sees part of his commercial attraction as his popularity among children - hence the deals with child-focused brands such as McDonald's and Pringles.
"You can hook them in fairly young and they'll grow up with him," one of those familiar with the Rooney marketing strategy explains.
That approach carries risks, warns Bart Campbell, managing director of Global Sports Management, which represents stars such as Pele. "You're being used to advertise products that are basically unhealthy," Campbell points out, noting that Gary Lineker's image has lately suffered over his endorsement of Walkers crisps.
Campbell's advice is for Rooney to stick with five global brands over the long-term. "Pretty much as they are already planning. What will matter most is the standard of his football. Beckham's appeal is far wider." But others doubt whether Rooney has the charisma to stay the course as a media favourite. "I'm not sure he can carry it off," says the celebrity PR Mark Borkowski.
"Becks has a very ambitious wife who helped project his career. Much will depend on Rooney's handling of incessant media demands, and 18-year-old kids do tend to get drunk and get into trouble. You can quickly go from media hero to zero - look what happened to Ian Botham and George Best. Even Becks has come very close to it lately." Max Clifford, too, identifies Rooney as "an obvious candidate for self-destruction" if his handlers put their own ambitions for him before his long-term needs.
There have already been incidents which threaten to tarnish the corporate sponsors' affection for their new golden boy. A family fight broke out at an 18th birthday party for Colleen which Rooney arranged, prompting days of critical press coverage. Team Rooney denies that such headlines reflected badly on him - "If Wayne has a second cousin who misbehaves, it's not an issue for him, and sponsors know that," a spokesman insists - but they detract from the purity of the footballing image. And image counts a great deal when multi-millionpound endorsements are at stake.
If the hype is to be believed, and Rooney's brand will one day be worth more than the England captain's, how will Team Beckham take it? "I'm sure he could be bigger than David if he chooses to," says Caroline McAteer, the Beckhams' long-term publicist, although she doesn't sound unduly concerned. After all, Rooney will not be the first 18-year-old whose gift has brought him vast commercial expectations. What will really determine his potential as a brand is where his game goes from here.
(Evening Standard, June 23 2004)
THE Lisbon guest list said it all. There were just 20 people at Monday night's party to celebrate Wayne Rooney's two goals against Croatia, and apart from immediate family it was the corporate sponsors who commanded the England wunderkind's attentions. "Pretty well every significant brand wants to talk to him now, from food companies to clothes firms," says one who was present. "If his game carries on like this, he has a real chance of earning at least as much off the pitch as David Beckham."
Amid awed newspaper coverage of "Roomania" and "Wayne's Whirl", the 18-year-old's management team at the Proactive Sports Group has been swamped this week with lucrative offers to sponsor the nation's newest sporting hero. The England and Everton striker already has deals worth about £10 million to promote brands such as Coca-Cola, Ford and Nike, but "Team Rooney" believes this is just the start.
"Provided he stays fit, Wayne has the potential to earn upwards of £100 million over the next decade or so," says a source working with Paul Stretford, the football agent masterminding Rooney's career. "We're emphasising that unlike Beckham, he won't ever be preoccupied with fickle fashions or the latest tattoos. Rooney's the real thing - an amazingly talented street footballer who can appeal to every kid in the world."
Even before Euro 2004, Stretford was talking about striking "substantial and record-breaking" deals for Rooney with four or five longterm blue-chip partners. He currently pulls in a reported £2 million a year in endorsements for products such as the Ford SportsKa - far less than the £15 million credited to Beckham, but a figure Stretford believes is about to jump. He is working with a fulltime team of six on the account at Proactive, part of the Formation Group, dealing with everything from Rooney merchandise to his media training.
Also, Ian Monk, the PR whose celebrity clients have included Carole Caplin and Chris Tarrant, has been brought in to build media interest in Rooney and his girlfriend Colleen McLoughlin.
But for all his footballing talent, they are no Posh 'n' Becks.
Commentators have mocked Rooney's reticence at some of his early press conferences, as well as his sometimes dishevelled appearance, particularly on collecting a BBC sports personality award. Colleen, an aspiring actress whom he met in a neighbouring Croxteth street, has certainly shown no appetite for playing the media, submitting to just one newspaper interview this year. Does this couple really promise the off-the-pitch glamour needed to secure sport's biggest commercial endorsements?
"He'll never be a fashion icon, and they'll never have that Posh 'n' Becks mass media appeal," suggests Phil Smith of First Artist, which manages more than 100 professional footballers. "But Wayne's proved this week he's a big game player who seems to revel on the big stage. If he sticks to endorsements from a few blue-chip companies strongly affiliated to football, he will do very well. The workingclass background will be the making of him." Proactive is looking to capitalise on Rooney's background as a street footballer from Liverpool who would kick around Coke cans if he could not find a ball. It has even trademarked the phrase "Rooney - Street Striker" for merchandise.
It sees part of his commercial attraction as his popularity among children - hence the deals with child-focused brands such as McDonald's and Pringles.
"You can hook them in fairly young and they'll grow up with him," one of those familiar with the Rooney marketing strategy explains.
That approach carries risks, warns Bart Campbell, managing director of Global Sports Management, which represents stars such as Pele. "You're being used to advertise products that are basically unhealthy," Campbell points out, noting that Gary Lineker's image has lately suffered over his endorsement of Walkers crisps.
Campbell's advice is for Rooney to stick with five global brands over the long-term. "Pretty much as they are already planning. What will matter most is the standard of his football. Beckham's appeal is far wider." But others doubt whether Rooney has the charisma to stay the course as a media favourite. "I'm not sure he can carry it off," says the celebrity PR Mark Borkowski.
"Becks has a very ambitious wife who helped project his career. Much will depend on Rooney's handling of incessant media demands, and 18-year-old kids do tend to get drunk and get into trouble. You can quickly go from media hero to zero - look what happened to Ian Botham and George Best. Even Becks has come very close to it lately." Max Clifford, too, identifies Rooney as "an obvious candidate for self-destruction" if his handlers put their own ambitions for him before his long-term needs.
There have already been incidents which threaten to tarnish the corporate sponsors' affection for their new golden boy. A family fight broke out at an 18th birthday party for Colleen which Rooney arranged, prompting days of critical press coverage. Team Rooney denies that such headlines reflected badly on him - "If Wayne has a second cousin who misbehaves, it's not an issue for him, and sponsors know that," a spokesman insists - but they detract from the purity of the footballing image. And image counts a great deal when multi-millionpound endorsements are at stake.
If the hype is to be believed, and Rooney's brand will one day be worth more than the England captain's, how will Team Beckham take it? "I'm sure he could be bigger than David if he chooses to," says Caroline McAteer, the Beckhams' long-term publicist, although she doesn't sound unduly concerned. After all, Rooney will not be the first 18-year-old whose gift has brought him vast commercial expectations. What will really determine his potential as a brand is where his game goes from here.
(Evening Standard, June 23 2004)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, June 23, 2004
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