Every basketball fan can associate different
players with different brands or sponsors. For example LeBron James wears Nike,
Derrick Rose wears Adidas, and John Wall wears Reebok. So what happens if you’re
the nation’s top high school player? You go to college and then hope a sponsor
comes your way if you get drafted. Well not in Andrew Wiggins case. Wiggins was
the top high school basketball player of the 2013 graduating class. Despite the
fact that he was the best player in the nation he just recently chose to go to
the University of Kansas. The official college basketball season hasn’t started
yet, but Adidas didn’t think it was a bad idea to try to lure the kid in. Adidas
recently proposed a deal for $180 dollars when he leaves school. This means he’s
already earning a deal as a college kid, and some NBA player don’t have a deal
at all.
An action like this show how competitive advertising actually is. A company will take a risk on a kid that hasn’t even played a college basketball game. It’s all a competition to see who can get the biggest athletes and celebrities to market their product. Once a company gets the person they want they will almost guarantee to see increase in sales. Picture your favorite brand of clothing to wear. Why do you wear that? Did a company make a deal with a star of athlete to bring you in? I’m sure that’s that case for most people. If companies get the right people they can’t do anything but make money.
I dont think companies risk much when they sponsor someone. If the player does well they company will have an increased in sale rates. Even if the player does bad no one will pay attention to who he or she is sponsored by. This wouldn't harm their reputation at all. Also the companies don't pay them much compared to what the companies profits are. Major sports players such as basketball, hockey, and football players do not help their companies as much as smaller sport players do. for example a football player will not be wearing all adidas because the NFL itself isn't sponsored by adidas. On the other hand smaller sports player like freestyle skiers provide a walking advertisement, this is because it is an individual sport and they just wear K2 or Armada (2 examples of ski companies) because they do not have any other logos like football does.
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