Sarah McInerney of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD reports that all is not lost on the endorsement front for Tiger Woods regardless of his seemingly endless extramarital affairs.
Tag Heuer chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin told the SMH that though the watchmaker may have dropped Woods in America, his endorsement is still valuable in certain countries. In fact, Babin claims that Woods marketability has increased in China because of his infidelity.
Consequently, in the US, Woods’s image has been removed from the company’s advertising. However, it remains on the Tag Heuer website and, in China, use of it has been increased.
“In China conversely you have Tag Heuer with Tiger Woods everywhere because [with] the Chinese it rather increases their esteem,” he said. “In China, by tradition, your success is measured by your number of mistresses.”
Nuts? Not if you look at the actual sales figures for the Woods Tag Heuer watch after the scandal broke.
(Babin said the) company gained market share in December and sales of the one product Woods co-designed, the golf watch, had the highest sales ever in that month.
“I can tell you, on Tiger, there is zero damage,” he said. “So I don’t know how they calculated that [figure]. Yes we received some letters off angry people because we are siding by Tiger so the question is, were they Tag Heuer users or not? Most were not. Would they ever acquire Tag Heuer? Most not as well.”
Meanwhile, Swiss watchmaking exports dropped by “22.3 per cent last year.”
“Generally speaking most markets suffered last year,” he said. “Some have bounced back already spectacularly. China is a good example.”
The Tag Heuer chief also made it clear the company will not abandon Woods. In fact, the company’s approach to Woods appears to be the contrary.
“As a global brand it would have been stupid to stop partnering with him because he still is and will remain for the next 10 years the best golfer ever, that’s for sure,” he said.
“He will resume golfing and when he will resume golfing it will be one of the biggest media [buzzes] ever.”
Babin is right. I’ve said all along that some day Woods will not only reach his previous endorsement plateau, he will exceed it. Why? Because the average consumer is so hopelessly susceptible to suggestion.
As soon as the huge conglomos say the coast is clear, it will be business as usual for Woods off the course. Make that bigger than usual. As we’ve seen innumerable times, the older the brand, the more rules of society no longer matter. Woods’ comeback will be the ultimate case study.
Cynical? Try empirical.
7:25 pm on February 28th, 2010
Some ONE else won today. tiger who?
6:24 am on March 1st, 2010
This is the same country that worships Kobe Bryant too…go figure.
8:15 am on March 1st, 2010
With attitudes and thinking like that no wonder there are so many people in China!!!
9:48 am on March 1st, 2010
Perhaps on the Chinese calendar, 2010 is the Year of the Tiger?
11:46 am on March 1st, 2010
Well he is cablanasian after all.
12:28 pm on March 1st, 2010
Hmm? Is Mr. Babin counting Tag Heurer knock offs? For every Rolex etc sold in Hong Kong, there are one hundred wanna-be’s sold. Tiger might get back the manly man endorsers but a company with any kind of female demographic will find him a tough sell.
2:26 pm on March 1st, 2010
BFD (Big f***ing deal) Tiger wouldn’t make me buy anything, in fact I would thionk twice before INow with his old lady, I’d but a bag of dog sh*t if she was selling it!!!
12:19 am on March 2nd, 2010
holdin5aces: You obviously know nothing of the emerging market for luxury products in China. For Hong Kong, that market has been in place for the better part of the last decade. You can check around on the internet yourself, China is the future for virtually all luxury goods. Many designers are designing luxury goods specifically targeted to people of Chinese descent, and that trend will continue and grow more year over year. Sure, there are significant amounts of fake goods sold in China/Hong Kong/Taiwan, BUT for any Chinese person who actually has money (and there are many, with countless more added each and a every day), possessing fake goods presents a loss of “face”, or respect, from their peers who purchase the legitimate product.
Also, to Bud: You are very ignorant. In the more developed regions of China (read: urban areas), there are less children born per family than in comparable parts of the United States. This is due to the policy which states that a couple may have only one child. According to various sources, this policy has reduced the birth-rate in these areas by 30-45% since 2000. It is in the more rural parts that this policy is often ignored (for now), which skews the overall statistics of effectiveness. Granted, China had some incredible birth-rates before the implementation of this policy, but if you compare the birth-rates in the urban areas today, compared to those in much of Latin America, parts of the United States and parts of Africa, you will see that China’s birth-rate is at or below that of those three regions.
11:14 am on March 9th, 2010
@Chad. Sometimes the one child rule doesn’t apply to rural areas because they’re often of an ethnic minority, not because they ignore the rule. Those folks are allowed to have two children.
6:39 pm on April 1st, 2010
Tiger is just a man. He did not buy those women, the women gave themselves to him. Don’t blame Tiger, blame the women who knew he was a married man yet they offered themselves to him any way. It is the women. Most men that are commenting on this story would not back away if the same ladies came on to them. They would make themselves available. That is just how men are. A good looking woman offering themselves to any man will get that man to have a go at them. Just the way I feel. Tiger is no different than Kobey, John F Kennedy, Magic Johnson, Bill Clinton –need I say more.
6:45 pm on April 1st, 2010
I never supported Tiger due to the kind of man he was. I supported him because he is one hell of a golf player. After all, he has been hitting holes all his life. Can you blame him for looking for that 19th, 20th. 21st hole. I don’t applaud what he did, but I do know that he is displaying what all red-bloodied American men does. He is/was having the time of his life. Now that it is cut short, he will be the best husband any woman could want.
12:48 am on September 4th, 2010
fafefadsfdfds