50 most marketable Aussie athletes: How $242m Simmons brand imploded as Kyrgios soars
He has a $242 million contract, seven million Instagram followers after simply three posts, and is likely one of the most recognisable basketballers on the planet, but Ben Simmons fails spectacularly in advertising and marketing enchantment.
While Nick Kyrgios has been engulfed in controversy on and off the tennis courtroom – final 12 months’s settled home violence cost being essentially the most severe – Simmons ranks a staggering 40 locations beneath Kyrgios in Code Sport’s 50 Most Marketable Australian Athletes listing.
Simmons earned the ire of Philadelphia 76ers followers when he sat out follow final season and missed video games after falling out with coaches and teammates, and finally bought a commerce to the Brooklyn Nets.
But it’s not the character of controversy that has affected his enchantment, however relatively efficiency, in line with main sports activities advertising and marketing knowledgeable Tristan Hay.
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Because whereas Simmons has continued to battle for type, Kyrgios has achieved career-highs prior to now 12 months, together with making the Wimbledon last.
Hay, who beforehand labored as an advisor to Kyrgios and stays mates with the tennis ace, stated: “If we are looking at pure endorsement dollars across their careers so far then Ben and Nick would be one and two on this list.
“They are once-in-a-generation talents who have amassed millions of followers on their social platforms and collaborated with some of the biggest brands and athletes in world sport.
“Their appeal goes well beyond sport to cross over with music, fashion and pop-culture.”
While Simmons ranks properly beneath what most of the people might count on, the Top 50 lists produced different surprises.
NRL and AFL gamers are “underrepresented” with the very best solely putting nineteenth.
They might grace the again pages of our newspapers and lead the nightly sports activities bulletins on tv, however the stars from each codes are a good distance down the marketability pecking order relating to Australian athletes.
Advertisers, even regionally owned, at the moment are looking for international attain with their manufacturers and are gravitating in direction of sportspeople who’re seen to a world viewers, main consultants have revealed.
Women are additionally few in numbers, with simply 14 on the listing although consultants predict that 18 months from now, following a FIFA World Cup, Netball World Cup and a Paris Olympics, parity will prevail.
Surprises within the high 20 embody Alex De Minaur and Logan Martin whereas large identify MMA stars solely simply make the lower.
So who claimed the NO 1 spot? Which stars didn’t make it?
