John Terry brand

Just as brands are recovering from their association with Tiger Woods, sponsors are grappling with allegations concerning the England football team Captain John Terry who is alleged to have had an affair with the partner of his former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge.

The affair may affect the England line up for this year’s crucial World Cup tournament – as well as any current or potential lucrative sponsorship deals.

Terry reportedly took out a High Court injunction to prevent details of the affair becoming public. However once the ban was lifted, the News of the World newspaper suggested that Terry made Bridge’s French model partner pregnant, going on to subsequently finance an abortion and then paying £20,000 “to cheer her up”.

The News of the World, alleged that Terry (a previous winner of the ‘father of the year’ award ) frequently flirted with Bridge’s partner on footballers’ nights out.

Such salacious allegations may have deep repercussions for the £150,000 per week salaried Captain.

A brand own-goal?

John Terry is the public face of sportswear brand Umbro.  He also works with Samsung.

Neither would comment on their agreements.

However a Swedish betting brand, Svenska Spel, which had previously work with Terry, announced that it would not work with him again.

Svenska Spel’s press officer, Johan Tisell, said:

“It has been two years since we had any contact with John Terry and we currently have no business with him,” said Tisell. “Would we consider having business with him in the future? I don’t think so.”

Terry also advertises the computer-gaming series Pro Evolution Soccer and, as England captain, is involved with the national team’s sponsors, Nationwide.

A spokesperson for the UK building society said the accusation was a “private matter” adding that its contract was with the England team and “not any one individual”.

The Brand Forensics perspective

In the case of Tiger Woods’ affairs,he eventually lost sponsorship deals worth an estimated $1m (£617,000).  However, judging by some reactions to the Terry case, the outcome may turn out very different.

To begin with, whilst there is universally public condemnation of too many athletes – playing ‘away’ off the field, local perception regarding many British football players is a very different one than ‘squeaky-clean’ golfers.

Generally, local UK footballers attract a very different demographic and so particular kind of public commentary.

Take this from author Toby Young published on the Daily Telegraph blogging site:

“As far as I’m concerned, John Terry can shag for England.”

He continued:

“I was on the fence about John Terry until Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, called his England captaincy into question. Now I’m four square behind him. If Robin Cook’s affair with his secretary wasn’t a good reason for him to resign from Labour’s front bench, why should Terry’s affair with Wayne Bridge’s wife be a  reason for him to lose his captaincy? “On the field John Terry is a fantastic player and a good England captain,” said Sutcliffe, “but to be the captain of England you have got to have wider responsibilities for the country.

“So it’s okay to have an extra-marital affair if you’re the Foreign Secretary, and quite literally represent your country, but not if your the captain of England, because you symbolically represent your country? What a load of balls.”

If the comment reflects the general underlining mood regarding the conduct of many football players, for now at least , the Terry case is very different from Woods’ situation.

Also, to put John Terry’s actual global brand potency into perspective, consider the latest list (January 2010) of the 100 most powerful athletes on and off the field.

Whilst the list is clearly USA biased, if nothing else it still offers general food for thought.

Bloomberg Businessweek teamed with CSE, an integrated sports and entertainment company and Bloomberg BusinessWeek columist Rick Horrow to produce the 2010 version of the Power 100.

The 2010 rankings  focus only on athletes. Measurements incorporated scores over a two-year period as well as total endorsement income, public opinion polls which evaluated the athlete’s awareness, trustworthiness, appeal and influence to calculate power off the playing field.

POWER 100 LIST

Athlete                       Sport

1. Tiger Woods         Golf

2. LeBron James        Basketball

3. Phil Mickelson      Golf

4. Albert Pujols           Baseball

5. Peyton Manning      Football

6. Dwyane Wade         Basketball

7. Michael Phelps      Swimming

8. Adrian Peterson     Football

9. Shaquille O’Neal    Basketball

10. Lance Armstrong     Cycling

11. Rafael Nadal        Tennis

12. Kobe Bryant         Basketball

13. Larry Fitzgerald    Football

14. Ryan Howard         Baseball

15. Brett Favre         Football

16. Serena Williams     Tennis

17. Roger Federer       Tennis

18. Eli Manning         Football

19. Joe Mauer           Baseball

20. Tim Duncan          Basketball

21. Jimmie Johnson      Auto Racing

22. Kevin Garnett       Basketball

23. Chris Johnson       Football

24. Randy Moss          Football

25. Drew Brees          Football

26. Kurt Warner         Football

27. Usain Bolt          Track & Field

28. Jeff Gordon         Auto Racing

29. Dirk Nowitzki       Basketball

30. Tom Brady           Football

31. Kevin Durant        Basketball

32. CC Sabathia         Baseball

33. Derek Jeter         Baseball

34. Prince Fielder      Baseball

35. David Beckham       Soccer

36. Dwight Howard       Basketball

37. Alex Ovechkin       Hockey

38. Andre Johnson       Football

39. Sidney Crosby       Hockey

40. Hines Ward          Football

41. Mark Martin         Auto Racing

42. Venus Williams      Tennis

43. Donovan McNabb      Football

44. Chris Paul          Basketball

45. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Auto Racing

46. Mark Teixeira       Baseball

47. LaDainian Tomlinson Football

48. Tony Stewart        Auto Racing

49. Chase Utley         Baseball

50. Jim Furyk           Golf

51. Shaun White         Snowboarding

52. David Wright        Baseball

53. Ilya Kovalchuk      Hockey

54. Ben Roethlisberger  Football

55. Steve Nash          Basketball

56. Lorena Ochoa        Golf

57. Evan Longoria       Baseball

58. Deron Williams      Basketball

59. Paul Pierce         Basketball

60. Carmelo Anthony     Basketball

61. Alex Rodriguez      Baseball

62. Johan Santana       Baseball

63. Tim Lincecum        Baseball

64. Apolo Anton Ohno    Speedskating

65. Stewart Cink        Golf

66. Ray Allen           Basketball

67. Carl Edwards        Auto Racing

68. Yao Ming            Basketball

69. Troy Polamalu       Football

70. Kyle Busch          Auto Racing

71. Landon Donovan      Soccer

72. Manny Pacquiao      Boxing

73. Padraig Harrington  Golfer

74. Vince Carter        Basketball

75. Tony Romo           Football

76. Dustin Pedroia      Baseball

77. Ichiro Suzuki       Baseball

78. Ray Lewis           Football

79. Andy Roddick        Tennis

80. Maria Sharapova     Tennis

81. Sergio Garcia       Golf

82. Fedor Emelianenko   Mixed Martial Arts

83. Derrick Rose        Basketball

84. Vijay Singh         Golf

85. Steven Jackson      Football

86. Andy Murray         Tennis

87. Allen Iverson       Basketball

88. Danica Patrick      Auto Racing

89. Brandon Roy         Basketball

90. Manny Ramirez       Baseball

91. Floyd Mayweather    Boxing

92. Candace Parker      Basketball

93. Shane Mosley        Boxing

94. Diana Taurasi       Basketball

95. Misty May-Treanor   Volleyball

96. Brock Lesnar        Mixed Martial Arts

97. Patrick Kane        Hockey

98. Chad Ochocinco      Football

99. Matt Ryan           Football

100. Ryan Sheckler       Skateboarding

Jonathan Gabay

www.brandforensics.co.uk

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