In 2003, a high school senior from Ohio signed an endorsement deal with Nike worth $90 million over seven years. Although he was projected to be the number one pick in that year’s NBA Draft, he hadn’t played a minute of professional basketball at the time of the deal.
Yet, something about him convinced Nike to take a huge risk and give him the largest initial contract ever to an unproven professional. That high school senior was LeBron James, and for Nike, the risk paid off. James is now the most successful endorser in the NBA and has deals with Nike, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Samsung, to name a few. According to Forbes, his signature shoe outsells its nearest NBA competitor 6-to-1 in the United States.
Come next June, someone is going to be the first pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. Barring injury, that someone is almost certainly going to be Andrew Wiggins of Kansas. Comparisons to LeBron abound, and many are calling the 6’8” small forward the most highly anticipated prospect since King James. After Wiggins, there are several other stellar college stars expected to enter the draft, and they all have NBA teams clamoring to get a top pick. One such prospect is Jabari Parker, a 6’8”, 235 pound small forward at Duke.
Wiggins and Parker have long heard their names uttered in the same sentences, and both have been compared to LeBron James. Many will remember the Sports Illustrated cover anointing Lebron as “The Chosen One” while he was still in high school. While Parker was still in high school, he was actually called the best high school basketball player since LeBron by the very same publication. Over the last year, Wiggins’ hype has been growing exponentially, and he eventually landed a cover of his own.
So what made Nike take a huge risk on LeBron in 2003? Imagine you represent a company looking for an athlete to endorse your product. Which one of these two young phenoms, Wiggins or Parker, would you choose? What traits do they share with other high profile athlete endorsers, and how would you evaluate their differences to determine which is the right man for you and your company?
Wiggins and Parker share something in common with LeBron that is the most important as well as the most obvious characteristic of a marketable athlete: supreme talent. Born within three weeks of each other in early 1995, Wiggins and Parker displayed many similarities during their sterling prep careers. Wiggins was born and raised in Ontario, Canada and played basketball there through his first two years of high school before transferring to Huntington Prep in West Virginia.
Parker grew up on the south side of Chicago and attended Simeon Career Academy, the same high school as Derrick Rose. Some call Wiggins the next Scottie Pippen, and Parker has drawn comparisons to Carmelo Anthony. Both come from athletic families. Wiggins is the son of former NBA player Mitchell Wiggins and former Olympic sprinter Marita Payne-Wiggins. Parker’s father Sonny played in the NBA from 1976-1982 with the Golden State Warriors.
Wiggins and Parker both represented their home countries in international competition and took home accolades here in the U.S. Parker helped the United States win gold in both the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA World Championship, while Wiggins and the Canadian team took bronze in each tournament as well. Parker was named the National Gatorade Player of the Year in 2012, and Wiggins followed suit in 2013. Both were McDonald’s All-Americans and had Mr. Basketball titles in 2013 (Wiggins, USA and Parker, Illinois). Wiggins is known for his high-flying, above the rim style of play, while Parker is well-respected for his flawless fundamentals.
These two were tops on ESPN’s 100 prospect rankings for 2013 and both gave highly anticipated commitment announcements. They will almost certainly each play just one season in college before entering the draft next year. As student athletes, they are not allowed by the NCAA to endorse products. But at this time next year, you can bet that along with their rookie contracts, they will also be bringing in some endorsement dollars.
In fact, companies are already ready to pounce when it comes to these two. The frontrunner to manufacture Wiggins’ signature shoe right now is Adidas, which also happens to be a sponsor of Kansas Athletics. Eleven years later, his deal will certainly be larger than LeBron’s; some think the neighborhood of $180 million over ten years is possible. Meanwhile, Nike has also been proactive over the last few years not so subtly trying to woo Parker. Nike donated uniforms and equipment to Simeon Career Academy worth $26,000 per year during the final three years of Parker’s time there. Now Parker attends Duke, a Nike school.
Traditionally, brands like to use athletes as endorsers of their products because there is a high return on investment. Neither Wiggins nor Parker are professionals yet, but assuming they both go in the top five picks of the 2014 draft, it’s easy to make an estimate on what they’ll be making this time next year. Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the top pick in the NBA draft can make up to $4,286,900 in his first year.
The third pick can make $3,444,400 and the fifth pick can make $2,812,200. If Wiggins goes number one as anticipated, he could be making almost $1.5 million more than Parker, depending on where Parker goes. He’ll be worth more and will therefore likely be a little more expensive. As a marketing executive, this might make me think about Parker over Wiggins. However, I would argue that Wiggins possesses other attributes that make him worth the price for any company that wants him on the payroll.
LeBron James, despite some bumps along the way, has undeniable personality. His charisma shines through in commercials, and his passion for the game is evident every time he’s on the court. Both Wiggins and Parker are young, just 18 years old, which generally affords them more market appeal. However, according to people close to them, neither athlete enjoys the spotlight.
One of Wiggins’ former assistant coaches in high school said, “Andrew is really private. He doesn’t like a lot of his business out there,” and Parker’s father said,“He doesn’t like a lot of attention. He’s managing.” The good news is, it’s likely that becoming big stars at Kansas and Duke respectively will force these two to open up their personalities and get used to the attention. Also, their reserved personalities won’t necessarily affect their potential as endorsers. Derrick Rose has a similarly elusive quality about him, and he has a thirteen year deal with Adidas worth $185 million.
Despite reports of shyness on both players, a quick sampling of YouTube videos shows that Wiggins has more natural charisma. Take a look at their commitment announcements. Both were well-spoken and professional, thanking all the right people and saying all the right things. Wiggins, however, kept his announcement short and to the point and appeared to be more at ease and instantly likeable. He seemed less nervous with the public speaking.
Parker’s announcement lasted longer, and he stumbled over his words a bit. Even though he said all the right things, his speech seemed slightly more rehearsed than Wiggins’.
With his exciting basketball acrobatics, Andrew Wiggins is also quickly becoming an internet sensation. Hype videos like this and this are everywhere. Jabari Parker has inspired some videos as well, but this one released by Duke focuses more on his upbringing in Chicago and work ethic, while this one highlights his fundamentally sound playing style.
Both athletes have strong roots in a home market. Parker’s market is Chicago, and while it is a major metropolitan area, Wiggins could actually appeal to the entire country of Canada. Canada is home to just one NBA franchise, but the Toronto Raptors play 20 miles from Wiggins’ hometown of Thornhill. Wiggins is a symbol of pride in both Canada and the United States, while Parker’s appeal might be limited to Midwesterners and Dukies at this point.
Now imagine also that your company is looking to use this athlete as part of a strong online marketing platform. You’re not just looking for a good endorser for your products but for someone with high online marketability as well. Robust digital advertising plans and an extensive online presence are increasingly becoming priorities for today’s businesses. The internet has the widest reach of any medium possible and is accessible 24 hours a day. It’s due to this accessibility as well as convenience that modern consumers are turning to the web for product information and purchasing.
Sports content rules the internet. Nielsen found that almost 60% of smartphone and tablet users accessed sports content via their device at least once a day from January to September 2012. Sports fans were also active on social media last year. Despite the fact that sports made up only 1.3 % of all television programming, 41% of all television-related tweets were about sports. Finally, a survey of television viewers showed that ads shown during sports programs are 10% more likely to be recalled later than ads shown during all other programming. Sports fans are passionate, and they are engaged.
Part of any good marketing plan requires knowing your target audience. While consumers across the board are increasing online activity, young people are particularly engaged online. LeBron has a wide-reaching presence on social media (over 10 million twitter followers) and has vocalized that it’s a priority for him to connect with his fan base. Specifically looking at the online presence of both Wiggins and Parker, Wiggins has a slight upper hand.
As of October 31, 2013, Wiggins had 112,319 twitter followers to Parker’s 53,719. He also had 1,013 total tweets compared to Parker’s 242. His public Facebook page has almost 14,000 likes while Parker’s has not quite reached 1,500. Wiggins seems to place more value on interacting with his followers at this point, another trait he shares with LeBron James. Companies focused on online marketability specifically would do well to go with an endorser who appeals to a younger audience.
Several NBA teams are likely trying or will try to perform poorly this season in order to increase their likelihood of getting the top draft pick in 2014. This phenomenon has spawned the catchphrase “Riggin for Wiggins.” Wiggins is already his own brand. Next year, some lucky company will scoop him up as an endorser of its products. He’s well-spoken and naturally charismatic. He has a high-flying game that’s exciting to watch and has generated internet popularity, especially among young people. Jabari Parker is a phenomenal athlete and a hard worker. He will sell someone a lot of shoes one day. But just like the NBA Draft, Wiggins will be the pick over Parker for brands in 2014.
See the two face off on the hardwood in Chicago tonight when Kansas plays Duke at 10 p.m. ET. in the Champions Classic.