Rappers sample athletes' turf
By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY
Rap artists are busting a move into a field formerly dominated by pro athletes: big-money endorsements.


Rappers 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Xzibit, host of MTV's Pimp My Ride, will roll out their own signature shoes nationwide in July and August through Reebok, Pony and DaDa footwear. Female hip-hop artists are getting involved too: Missy Elliott has teamed with Adidas to push her own "Respect Me" line of sneakers, jackets and bags.

Since Michael Jordan and Nike revolutionized sports marketing, pro athletes have looked on endorsements as their turf, particularly in the $55 billion footwear and sports apparel market. But 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) says rappers are "absolutely" taking away deals that used to go to jocks. (Related items: Madison Ave. has ear for rap | 50 Cent sings a song of business success)

"Athletes are seasonal. Our presence is yearround," says the ex-drug dealer turned rap mogul who survived nine bullet wounds from a shooting in 2000. "The major corporations see how lucrative it is to do business with us."

NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb is co-starring with his fellow Reebok endorser in a new TV spot promoting 50 Cent's GXT II cross-training shoe. The Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro is a rising endorsement star with deals for Campbell Soup, Lincoln Financial and Reebok. But he notes the rapper invasion is viewed askance in locker rooms.

"Obviously, as an athlete you want all the deals to come to you," McNabb says.

Hip-hop endorsers are part of the growing fusion of sports and music. Rap mogul Jay-Z owns a piece of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. The NFL and NBA stage huge concerts before their biggest events.

Rappers are banging on corporation doors, looking for shoe deals the way basketball players did in the 1980s and '90s.

The "casual shoes" they endorse, used more for fashion than sports, have emerged as the fastest growing piece of the $17 billion athletic footwear pie. Casual shoe sales grew 24.5% in 2004 vs. a 0.3% increase for basketball shoes and 4.6% bump for running shoes, according to SGMA International. So-called "leisure/low performance" shoes accounted for 51% of dollar volume for the 12-month sales period ending in May, says NPD Group.

With the exception of female tennis stars such as Venus and Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, most female stars lag badly behind men in endorsement bucks. The rise of rappers only makes their life more difficult.

"This just gives (women athletes) more competition," warns Jim Andrews, editor of the IEG Sponsorship Report. "If this trend continues, and it probably will, it will make it harder for all athletes, including the women."

Edgy game plan

But hiring rappers can be a double-edged sword. Companies gamble their new celebrity faces won't get them in hot water for violent, sexually explicit or misogynistic lyrics. Reebok was forced to pull its 50 Cent commercial in Great Britain because of complaints that it glorified gun violence. McDonald's was panned this year for offering rappers a bounty of $1 to $5 each time a song mentioning "Big Mac" aired on the radio.

Still, publicity disasters such as NBA star Kobe Bryant's rape trial continue to turn the tide toward entertainers. "We see corporations looking more for entertainers than athletes because of the behavior and instability of athletes at the highest levels," says Bob Williams, CEO of Burns Entertainment and Sports Marketing, who represents companies searching for celebrity endorsers.

50 Cent's debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', sold more than 11 million copies. The rapper takes his role as front man for the "G-Unit Collection by Rbk" (named for his G-Unit record label) seriously. The Eminem protégé wears his signature kicks constantly. He views his music videos as potential "three-minute commercials."

This week, Reebok will launch the GXT II nationwide at a suggested retail price of $90.50. The 60-second spot called "Street Sports" that debuted on BET Awards portrays the former amateur boxer as a sports equal, catching passes from McNabb in a street football game, playing stickball with Boston Red Sox World Series MVP Manny Ramirez and shadow-boxing with WBC junior middleweight champ Winky Wright.


Reebok
Boxer Winky Wright, left, helps rapper 50 Cent market his Reebok shoe.

Reebok, the No. 2 athletic company, embraced the hip-hop generation in 2001. Paul Fireman, chief executive officer, decided to pump up the street-inspired Rbk as a "lifestyle/entertainment brand" while expanding Reebok's sports presence through outfitting deals with the NFL, NBA and NHL.

Edgy Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson was highlighted as Reebok's main endorser vs. Nike's more polished Jordan. But the company really took the plunge when it signed rapper Jay-Z in 2002 to design and endorse his own signature shoe. Reebok viewed the launch of Jay-Z's "S. Carter" collection in June 2003 as test. The shoes sold out in three days. "We said, 'We're on to something big,' " recalls Dennis Baldwin, chief marketing officer.

During the first quarter of fiscal 2005, Reebok's revenue increased 11% to $925 million. The company attributes roughly half that increase to music, entertainment or lifestyle-inspired products, according to Baldwin. "Kids in their teens and 20s don't make a delineation between sports and entertainment. There's a real fusion of sports, music and entertainment," he says.

Killick Datta, who bought Pony two years ago, is also going the hip-hop route. He passed on several athletes in favor of Snoop when looking for a star endorser. "I get approached by (agents) for one or two rappers per week who want to do a shoe. But we chose Snoop. We feel he's the most global. And he's a great businessman," he says.

All about the marketing

Blame it on Madison Avenue's obsession with reaching 18- to 34-year-old consumers. Consumers 12-24 years old generated 40% of sports apparel purchases in 2004, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA). Rap stars provide a "street credibility" that many sports stars lack, says Bob Dorfman who rates the endorsement potential of current athletes.

"Jay-Z's shoe is more successful than that of most athletes," says Dorfman, creative director at Pickett Advertising in San Francisco. "Look at (NBA Finals MVP) Tim Duncan. He's a superstar, but he's boring. He's not American. He doesn't have credibility on the street."

Many of sport's biggest endorsers — Jordan, Magic Johnson, Joe Montana, Mark McGwire and Wayne Gretzky — are retired.

The new generation doesn't have the same charisma as the old guard, say experts. Even the NBA focused on retired "legends" such as Johnson rather than current San Antonio Spurs or Detroit Pistons in commercials touting ABC's recent coverage of the NBA Finals.

"Athletes continue to be icons. But there's not that many iconic athletes any more," Bob McGee, editor of Sporting Goods Intelligence.

At the zenith of Jordan's fame, marketers handed out million-dollar endorsement contracts like candy looking for the next Air Jordan. But there are fewer companies to dish out contracts because of industry consolidation in recent years. And high-profile shoe flops by Shaquille O'Neal for Reebok and Bryant for Adidas have made marketers wary. "There were signature shoes for players who shouldn't have had one. Now we've come back to reality," Andrews says. "Jordan was an exception to the rule. Not everybody can sell products like he can."

Marketers are spending more money on a shrinking pool of elite athletes. A handful of stars such as Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Alex Rodriguez can write their own tickets, according to Brandon Steiner, founder of Steiner Sports Marketing, who plays matchmaker between athletes and endorsers. However, the next level of players behind them are starving for deals.

"The big names want six figures and up. And they're picky," Steiner says.

Most rappers have no qualms about working with sponsors for product placement in their songs, music videos and tours, says Lavetta Willis, president of DaDa. While rappers have long been the cheaper alternative to jocks, that's changing fast, she adds.

"Contracts for entertainers are getting to be the same as that for NBA athletes. I'm not happy about that," says Willis, a former basketball star at Notre Dame.

Meanwhile, the biggest player in the athletic footwear and apparel business has yet to jump on the bandwagon.

Nike has always prided itself as a company built by and for athletes. The No. 1 sneaker-maker has no plans to follow Reebok into the rap wars "at this time," spokesman Dean Stoyer says.

Instead, it's launching a new athletic line around Lance Armstrong named "10//2:" the date the cyclist was diagnosed with cancer.

They need shooting.

meltwithu said:

Thinking of Gay Porn title.....

This is all very interesting. There will always be a place for the athlete that the rapper/artist can't touch. Still, for the ad guy, they already know the stats with an artist. You don't know how someone is going to play. Also, the rapper/artist for the most part knows how to deliver a line.

I see the marriage happening anyway. It's a way for the artist to survive in this "new age" of music.

lilgish said:

Hot Thugs on a Platter

There's also a newfound syngergy between rap music and porn.

Just look at BET Uncut.

Snoop on Girls on Wild.

Nelly's Tip Drill.

The countless T&A rap videos on major networks, etc.


Way to go, Hip hop.

lilgish said:

Personal Trainers 9

lilgish said:

The Divine Secrets of the Cakes With No Face Brotherhood

OdysseyMiles said:

Well, Common and Mos are doing commercials now.

Mos, Latifah, Luda, Cube, LL and others will continue to act in film and TV for a long time to come.

But there will be a time when hip-hop's days as a commercial phenomenon will fade. Swing jazz stayed around for 20 years before it faded. Disco didn't last that long, nor did "grunge" or other musical movements of varying quality. But the landscape will change again and hip-hop will return to the underground.

namepeace said:

I count the days!!!

Seems like they are doing everything possible except making music, which is something they can't do. It's only appropriate that they endorse sports products because that's all they wear. Not only can they not make original music, they can't even dress original. Instead of having their own designer come up with an original outfit, like the old stars used to do, they are wearing sports jerseys, jeans, and sneakers.....very original huh? Hell, you can buy shit that looks like that at Wal-Mart. They don't even look like men, they look like "mama's big little boys" wearing their sports jerseys. They probably wear underoos too.
[Edited 7/5/05 18:41pm]

vainandy said:

Yes, the current hip hop/r&b climate makes the Black Eyed Peas look like geniuses.

vainandy said:

You make a good point...never looked at it that way.

I am so sick of this thugs. Just go away. Rap, well pop rap is putting a real bad name on black people.