Description More than 33.8 million Americans use T-Mobile, a nation provider of wireless voice, messaging and data services. Its parent company Deutsche Telekom AG is one of the World’s largest telecommunications companies with approximately 128 million customers worldwide. Over the years, T-Mobile has been known for many popular phones including the Sidekick and MyTouch. From an advertising standpoint, T-Mobile has one of the most star-studded line-up of celebrity endorsements of any of the telecommunication providers. One its first celebrity endorsers were actress Catherine Zeta-Jones who signed on in 2002. T-Mobile is also an official sponsor of the NBA and has had ads featuring basketball superstars Charles Barkley,Dwyane Wade, Yao Ming andDwight Howard. Other advertising campaigns have included: Eric Clapton, AvrilLavigne, Brad Paisley, Wyclef Jean, Molly Shannon, Chevy Chase, Dana Carvey and Darrell Hammond.
Description Dwyane Wade entered the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft in 2003, and was selected fifth in the first round draft by the Miami Heat. He emerged as one of the best young players in the NBA within his first three seasons of the league. Wade plays guard for the Miami Heat and with his team won the 2006 NBA Championship (Newsmakers Cumulation, 2011). As Wade’s career began to take off in basketball, so did his endorsement deals. Wade appeared in his first commercial for Converse sneakers in early 2005. Later that fall, he signed a deal to become Converse’s primary endorser and face of the brand. As a result, Wade was soon able to create his own signature shoe for Converse. Some of Wade’s other significant endorsement deals were with Warren Henry Motors, Gatorade, and McDavid Hex Pad. By 2007, Wade’s endorsement income was estimated around $12 million with deals specifically with Converse, Gatorade, Topps, and Lincoln Cars (Arango, 2008). The most popular endorsement that many affiliated him with was T-Mobile. T-Mobile signed Wade as an endorser to help the wireless carrier design a limited-edition Sidekick, the texting device/cell phone (Sports Biz, 2007).
Description She has an Oscar, a famous hubby (Michael Douglas) and is the queen of celebrity endorsements. Adweek magazine says Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones makes more money on commercials and ads than any other celebrity. Zeta-Jones is into her second two-year, $10 million contract with T-Mobile, appearing in print and TV ads.
SIEMENS MOBILE
Name of Mobile Phone/Network
Siemens Mobile
Name of Sport Brand Ambassador associated
David Beckham
Means of Promotion
Images, Downloads for fee
Website Link
http://www.economist.com/node/1900131
Description As far as brand managers are concerned, Mr Beckham's transfer might have been engineered in adland. He has a personal contract to promote Pepsi, an official sponsor of both Manchester United and Real Madrid. But although Nike sponsors United, Mr Beckham wears Adidas boots, under a personal deal with the German firm. Its boss, Herbert Hainer, says Mr Beckham's move is a “dream ticket” for Adidas because his firm also sponsors Real. United's main sponsor is Vodafone, which paid £30m ($46m) for a four-year deal ending next year. The world's biggest mobile-phone operator, which is midway through a separate two-year personal contract with Mr Beckham, has no qualms about his move: it works with a Real sponsor, Siemens Mobile, a handset supplier.
When he was at United, Mr Beckham collected a wage for playing football (said to be £70,000 a week) plus a fee (around £20,000 a week) for the club to use his image as part of its own merchandising. At Real it is said he will be earning less. But his personal sponsorship deals could become far more lucrative, though he will have to hand 50% to the Spanish club.
MOTOROLA MOBILE
Name of Mobile Phone/Network
Motorola Mobile
Name of Sport Brand Ambassador associated
David Beckham
Website Link
http://www.ipedr.net/vol5/no1/36-H00083.pdf
Description
Top athletes, like other celebrities, are often recruited toendorse products and services as they are able to generate
awareness and positive attitudes towards endorsed brands.For example, Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant are popular
among advertisers, earning endorsements deals of US$70million and US$10 million in 2010 respectively [1].
Footballer David Beckham has also been very successful inattracting endorsements deals. He had endorsed many brandsincluding Adidas, Pepsi, Gillette and Motorola. Indeed,Beckham had been so successful in generating awareness forthe brands that he endorsed, that the industry had termed itthe Beckham Effect.
MOTOROLA MOBILE
Name of Mobile Phone/Network
Motorola Mobile
Name of Sport Brand Ambassador associated
Maria Sharapova
Website Link
http://www.thepostgame.com/node/2757
Description
Maria Sharapova gained attention at 17 when she defeated two-time defending champion Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final. Despite impressive career prize money earnings of more than $16 million, Sharapova has earned far more through endorsement deals. In January 2010, Sharapova renewed her contract with Nike for $70 million over eight years, making it the biggest deal ever for a female athlete.
Sharapova has been the highest-paid female athlete in the world for seven straight years, earning twice as much as any other female athlete. Sharapova earned $25 million last year compared to 2010 No. 1 seed tennis player Caroline Wozniacki's $12.5 million. Sharapova also has endorsement deals with Canon, Motorola, Colgate, Palmolive, Prince, Tiffany and Evian.
What’s better than one NBA star endorsing your brand? Having another.
And that’s exactly what Smart Communications, chaired by tycoon and self-confessed sports junkie Manuel V. Pangilinan, will get.
Smart on Wednesday announced that it had signed 23-year-old Washington Wizard JaVale McGee as its newest corporate endorser.
He joins Kevin Durant, who plays for Oklahoma City Thunder, as the latest addition to Smart’s roster of endorsers.
“Smart is a great company,” McGee said in a roundtable discussion with reporters on Tuesday. “It’s a great phone company for the Filipino people. It’s an honor to be here.”
McGee is in the country for meet-and-greets with fans, to guest at a basketball game and to conduct a basketball clinic for kids.
“McGee is one of the freshest and most exciting players in the NBA today,” said Smart chief wireless advisor Orlando Vea.
He stood out during the last NBA all-star slam dunk contest when he was cited by the Guinness Book of World Records for being able to dunk three balls in a single jump—the most any person has done in history.
McGee was in the Philippines last July with fellow superstars Kobe Bryant, Derek Rose, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and Tyreke Evans for exhibition games with local All-Stars.
Companies regularly use athletes and other high profile individuals to endorse their company and specific products as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. They use the popularity of their talents to entice consumers to look favorably on their brand and to increase sales of their products or services. These approvals are done by having the athlete align themselves with the company through advertisement, commercials, product promotions, or sports gear contract arrangements. Many endorsements deals can bring great wealth and exposure to both an athlete and a company.
The effectiveness of a celebrity endorser, like David Beckham himself, relies on physical attractiveness and cultural meaning. Companies, such as Gillette have used Beckham in their marketing strategy to target a younger, global consumer. Gillette feels that Beckham could improve their image and boost its brand internationally. By using Beckham, they can reach men aged 18-34. In 2004, he signed a record breaking deal valued at 40 mill pounds – 64 million CAD to become the global face of Gillette. Findings have indicated that customers have a more positive brand attitude and purchasing intentions when the product is paired with an attractive celebrity endorser.
Companies such as Pepsi, Adidas, Vodafone and Giorgio Armani all strived to sign Beckham and ensure that he was the face behind their products. Despite already being aligned with a remarkable 64 million dollar deal with Gillette, Beckham wasn’t ready to put off the much smaller endorsement deals. He was offered a 3 million dollar deal with Pepsi, a 1.7 million dollar deal with Vodafone and a 20 million dollar 3 year deals with Giorgio Armani. However, it was an astonishing 160 million dollar lifelong contract from Adidas that toped his endorsement deals. The company also immediately issued him a massive down payment worth 80 million dollars.
There are a number of barriers and obstacles that hinder relationships between companies and their endorsers. Endorsers such as Beckham have to be very careful in the way they behave both on and off the field, simply because they are representing the companies that they advertise for. It is considered that the companies portray what they are endorsers portray. This entails that individuals have to maintain a respectable profile as they are the face of the company’s product or service.
T-MOBILE
Name of Mobile Phone/Network
T-Mobile
Name of Sport Brand Ambassador associated
Dwight Howard
Website Link
http://www.cnbc.com
Description
Dwight Howard plays for the Orlando Magic basketball team. Aaron Goodwin, his agent, said that Howard "has more corporate partnerships than any other NBA player," andThe Orlando Sentinelestimated that he earns $20 million from endorsement deals with such sponsors as Gatorade, McDonald's, T-Mobile and Vitamin Water.
Howard was chosen during the 2004 NBA Draft, but before that he already planned to use his future celebrity status to promote his Christian faith. Howard kept his word, and in 2009 he became one of 10 finalists for the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, which recognizes charity work performed by athletes. In 2010, he founded the Dwight Howard Fund, a charity for Haitian earthquake relief.
As one of the most sought after celebrity endorsers, the list of Anna Kournikova endorsement deals is quite lengthy and includes Adidas, Charles-Schwab, Lycos, XSN Sports, Multiway Sports Bra, Omega Watches, Pegasus Cell Phones and Yonex Rackets.
The one Olympian on our list is figure skater Kim Yu-Na, who made $9.7 million, ranking her fifth. The 2010 Olympic gold medalist has an impressive endorsement portfolio including Hyundai, Nike and Samsung Electronics.
Her sponsor, Kookmin Bank, reportedly took out insurance on the $1 million bonus it promised to Kim if she broke her world record score at the Vancouver Olympics. Like her tennis-playing competition for top-paid female athlete, she smashed it.
Zidane has enjoyed several sponsorship deals with such companies as Adidas, Lego, GroupeDanone, Generali, France Telecom, Orange, Audi, Ford, and Christian Dior. These sponsorship deals have earned him $11.2 million on top of his $8.3 million Real Madrid salary in the 2005-06 seasons. This makes him the sixth highest paid soccer player, and in 2004, Forbes magazine named him the 42nd highest paid athlete in the world with combined earnings totaling $15.8 million annually.
Motorola - a fee, plus a mobile phone and all her mobile phone bills paid, plus a share of the income of downloads from Hello Moto/Maria. She was criticized at the U.S. Open by some members of the American press for holding a RAZR to her ear at roughly the same time her father was seen talking on a similar phone, as this may have violated the United States Tennis Association's no sideline-coaching rule.
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has signed a two-year contract to endorse Samsung’s large-screen TVs, a deal that is intriguing for a variety of reasons. Of primary interest is that we’re told the use of Manning as an endorser marks the beginning of the end of Samsung as an NFL corporate sponsor.
Samsung has been an NFL corporate patron since 2005, and is paying about $6 million annually for those rights. While the Korean electronics brand has successfully used its NFL ties to rise from a second- or third-tier brand to a contender in the consideration set among those buying large-screen televisions, sources said it could not justify continuing to pay a premium price for the NFL when margins on its top-tier sets have been shrinking to infinitesimal levels.Samsung has another year remaining on its current NFL deal. Still, unless something drastic happens (and we’re told definitively that it won’t), Manning is Samsung’s exit strategy from its NFL sponsorship. Manning, the MVP after his team was victorious in Super Bowl XLII, will appear in print and TV ads that also include Giants running back Brandon Jacobs. The ads should break late this month.
Another reason the Eli/Samsung deal is an interesting one is that it’s the first endorsement that conflicts with older brother Peyton, who has been tied to rival TV maker Sony since 2005 -— meaning that you could have the two brothers squaring off on the floor of electronics retailers. Part of what completed the exception to what had seemed to be a “no-conflict” rule for the brothers is the sheer size of the deal — it’s now one of the younger Manning’s largest — and the importance of the NFL in selling high-end TVs.
The Mannings compete in the fictitious DoubleStuf Racing League. Is an HDTV contest next?
We’ll be interested to see where Samsung’s expected departure leaves the NFL with regard to a sponsor in the TV category. The league certainly covets a nameplate like Sony, but we doubt that brand would feel any need to add NFL marks when Peyton Manning has served it so well. Some of the lower-tier brands have used sports affinities to burnish their brands, most notably Vizio’s use of San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, and Mitsubishi’s PGA sponsorship.Further reflecting on the Eli/Samsung hookup: It’s fascinating to note that Eli was tied for 15th in passer rating among NFL quarterbacks last year; accordingly, fans would not rate him among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks. However, Peyton’s younger brother is now the NFL’s highest-paid player, and likely the second- or third-highest off-field earner. Such is the power and appeal of playing the most important position for a New York NFL franchise.Eli’s other endorsements are with Reebok, Citizen, DirecTV, Oreo and the New York areaToyota dealers co-op. Alan Zucker at IMG represents the Manning family. He would not comment.
About ten years ago, celebrities doing commercials in the U.S. was considered "selling out". The public saw it as corny. It got to the point where a lot of the big names in Hollywood would go overseas to do advertisements. This way they'd get the paycheck and their reputation wouldn't suffer.
Local endorsements are different than those at the national level, since people tend to have a strong bond in their minds with local celebrities. As a result, their opinions usually carry more weight. When NFL great Dan Marino retired from the Miami Dolphins in 2000, he entered a whole new realm of business. He became a local hero in Florida. Five years later, he was endorsing Samsung Electronics, among other companies.
The marketing battle between Korean majors LG and Samsung is set enter a new pitch. LG Electronics, one of the official sponsors of the forthcoming ICC World Cup 2003 championship, plans to use the images of some of the seven cricketers--who were signed up by Samsung as brand endorsers--in a forthcoming campaign slated to roll out in January.
As per the terms of the sponsorship deal of Pepsi and LG with the ICC, as global partners of all ICC tournaments till 2007, they have the right to access footage of all ICC matches, which in effect gives them access to all the top cricketers of the world by default.
According to the Global Partner Protection contract, they can access footage of ICC events and matches for a maximum of 30-second duration in commercials and not in a manner of endorsements. It also extends the partners' access to footage and still photographs of events for commercial purposes.
LG earlier this month released its 'Cricket First' campaign with 14 cricket captains. ''That was an image-building campaign that will run through the World Cup. The next phase of ads will revolve around our Rs 40-crore consumer promotion and feature Ravi Shastri, besides shots of cricketers,'' a senior LG executives said. As of now, ads showing cricketers endorsing brands in competition with the World Cup sponsors, cannot be shown one month before, during, and one month after the World Cup. The clause, as it stands, comes into effect from January 8.
That's not the issue here. They do pay tax on what they earn in the UK. If they had an endorsement deal with a UK company they should be taxed on that too.
That issue here is that if, for example, Roger Federer signs an endorsement deal to advertise a Swiss mobile phone network. So he appears in ads in another country to sell contracts that UK customers can't even buy - The UK tax authority take a cut of this based on the days he is in the UK.
No other country in the world does this.
In the case of football the UK doesn't do this either - so Messi has an endorsement from Adidas & appears in the UK - he's exempt!!?
If someone who works for a French company is asked to visit the UK for meetings for 2 days - they don't have to pay income tax on the time they are working in the UK?
Atlanta's own teen tennis sensation Melanie Oudin has inked a partnership with Virgin Mobile USA. Oudin is currently in California preparing to play in the 2010 BNP Paribas Open held in Indian Wells, Calif.
As a bonus, if Oudin wins this year’s U.S. Open in September, Virgin Mobile USA has committed to donate one million dollars to homeless youth organizations as part of The RE Generation program, which is company’s initiative to raise awareness for the issue of homeless youth in the United States.
“The RE Generation initiative was founded by Virgin Mobile to empower young people to help less fortunate peers resurrect their lives. We’ve made significant strides in raising awareness and direct involvement with the troubling issue of youth homelessness, and having an ambassador like Melanie Oudin committed to this cause is very powerful,” Bob Stohrer, vice president of marketing for Sprint’s (News - Alert) Virgin Mobile brand, said. “Melanie’s ‘Believe’ mantra transcends tennis and naturally extends to the work we’ll do together.”
Last year, at the age of 17, Oudin stepped onto the professional tennis stage and made her mark quickly with her strong performances at Wimbledon and the 2009 U.S. Open.
She, at the U.S. Open, defeated Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova and became the youngest American Grand Slam quarterfinalist since Serena Williams won the 1999 Open. Melanie has adopted “Believe” as her mantra and has stamped the word on the tennis shoes that she wears during every match.
“I am thrilled to partner with Virgin Mobile USA. They have made great strides in their efforts to help disadvantaged youth, and the company brings excitement and creativity to everything it does,” Oudin, said. “I am looking forward to a great partnership.”
The fans will also be provided with the chance by the Virgin Mobile USA, to watch Melanie compete at this year’s U.S. Open through their FREE I.P. program. This program will offer free tickets to concerts and events in exchange for volunteering time at not-for-profit homeless youth organizations.
Introduced last year, the FREE I.P. program has already produced more than 30,000 hours of volunteer work and more than 5,000 tickets to the Virgin Mobile Festival and Virgin Mobile Presents the Monster Ball Tour Starring Lady Gaga.
Nowadays people recognize each brand based on the film celebrity or sports hero who endorses the product or the brand. Every promotional feature like advertisements, hoardings, outdoor campaigns and mass awareness programs are conducted by companies with the presence of the celebrity or celebrities who endorse them. In India this phenomenon is a market gulper.
The cricket mania in India has resulted in cricket players getting higher endorsement deals than their Bollywood counterparts. And today we discuss about one particular brand which has used this cricket fever to its maximum advantage. The brand is none other than Maxx Mobile.
Maxx Mobile is a late entrant in the Indian Mobile market which is valued as one of the largest in the world. But it made up for its late arrival and made a name for itself by selling more than 3 million handsets in less than 3 years since its inception. The brand now aims at a significant market share of over 10% by 2012 and is rigorously focusing on new marketing strategies to improve its sales.
Maxx has used the current cricket frenzy prevalent in India and has roped in one of the biggest names in Indian cricket to promote itself. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of the Indian Cricket Team was roped in as the brand ambassador of Maxx Mobiles. But the real shock came when Dhoni renewed his contract with Maxx and extended it for 7 more years. And guess what! The deal entitled him to receive a staggering Rs 29 Crore as endorsement fee.
Top brass at Maxx mobile believe that the deal was worth because they say that, with a string of recent success to his credit including the T-20 and 50 Over World Cup, Dhoni has become the epitome of Indian Sporting Achievements. He is respected and admired by the young and old of India alike and his brand value has increased tremendously. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is without any doubt the most popular figure in Indian cricket right now among the younger generation even beyond Sachin Tendulkar.
As part of the lucrative deal Dhoni will represent all promotional and marketing activities of the brand including advertisement, posters and hoardings, public campaigns, outdoor campaigns and so on.
Also Maxx Mobile tied up with Ignitee Sports agency to manage its brand promotion activities during the 4th edition of the Indian Premier League Cricket Tournament. The agency oversaw the ground implementation of Maxx Strategic Time-Out and Play-Off Sponsorship for IPL4.
Maxx Mobile has taken all right directions in terms of branding, it brand value has just got better and better. Leveraging a game like cricket has helped the company to connect to masses in such a short time frame. Success of Maxx mobile is proving a point beyond doubt that Sports is sometimes the best emotional trigger which could impact consumer buying and brand building in a country like India.
Fresh off her “David would never cheat on me” rumorrefutal to OK!Magazine, Victoria Beckham took to the party carpet as part of her LG Fashion Touch endorsement duties. For the record, she is quoted as saying her marriage to David is not a business arrangement. Not sure why she’d say that: David Beckham is the biznits.
Soz that was a joke not worth the martinis it was caused by.
The short cocktail dress Posh wore (above) is not to be confused with her similarly designed Vanity Fair Oscar Party gown, worn in early 2010. And though Victoria may be up for modeling her own dresses, her formula appears to be working as her legion of fans is ever-increasing. Opera singer Katherine Jenkins and Victoria’s Secret/Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Editionmodels, SelitaEbanks, are just two of the latest celebrities to don her garbs.
Alcatel store display showingChris Tiuas the company's newest celebrity endorser! Now, isn't that nice? Really, Alcatel could have just gotten a teenybopper sensation from either networks to appeal to the masses. Instead, they got formerAteneo Blue EagleandSmart Gilasbasketball starChris Tiuto be the face of their handsets. I guess the people behind the Alcatel are totally serious about turning around the local image of the brand (Remember those big Safeguard-soap-shaped Alcatel phones from several years back?). Anyway. If the goal is to make the brand look more high-end - if a bit, I think Alcatel made the right decision in plastering Chris Tiu's face all over their campaign materials. Call me biased for being a fellow Atenean, but that's how it is.
Alltel Wireless will bring the No. 12 Penske Racing Team closer to fans with an initiative that supports the company's My Circle calling feature.
My Circle 500 launched Feb. 24 as a national text-to-win promotion, giving race fans a chance to win up to $500,000.
"This promotion was created as a way to directly connect with [our] customers by making them part of the action," said Lucie Pathmann, director of marketing communications at Alltel, Scottsdale, AZ.
"The overall marketing campaign takes a very aggressive approach to utilizing the sponsorship of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge and the My Circle 500 delivers a truly one-of-a-kind experience," he said. "The My Circle 500 sweepstakes is also designed to generate awareness for Alltel's products and services."
As part of that promotion, 10 finalists will take their Circle of Friends on a paid trip to Charlotte, NC, on May 23-26 to tour the Penske Race Shop, meet the No. 12 Alltel Team, train like the pros and participate in an ultimate go-kart and pit crew challenge.
Alltel's Racing Podcast Series will also give fans an inside look at the No. 12 Alltel Team. It debuted Feb. 19 and features Ryan Newman, driver of the No.12 Alltel Dodge and host Brett McMillan.
A special Fan Center section on the site features the latest show car schedule and Mr. Newman's tips on how to dodge race-day traffic, special events and appearances and a guide to his favorite restaurants in the area.
Race fans can also tag their mobile phones with the latest Ryan Newman downloads or sign up to receive exclusive official text alerts and be the first to get race results. All they have to do is visit www.alltelracing.com or text RYAN12 to 141414.In addition, fans can win racing memorabilia while supporting the Ryan Newman Foundation through an online auction at alltelracing.com.This is the eighth season that Alltel is sponsoring Penske Racing and Ryan Newman’s No. 12 Dodge.
"Since Alltel Wireless is the 'Official Wireless Partner of Fans,' we wanted to give fans the experience of participating in a race," Ms. Pathmann said.
Even Pacman’s vaunted star power was no match against Steve Jobs and the world’s biggest company.
The digital world is abuzz with talk about the sudden—though not unpredictable—demise of HP’s TouchPad, hitherto billed as a promising alternative to the vastly popular iPad and Android tablets.
It apparently made no difference that HP had tapped boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao as its celebrity endorser. Boxing pundits saw the endorsement as further validation of the eight-division titlist’s growing crossover appeal.
But just two months after the TouchPad was released, its company decided to pull the plug because of poor sales, according to several news and technology websites.“Pacman’s star appeal didn’t work,” said Royce Roy, a Bay Area marketing specialist who was able to purchase one of the last 16g TouchPads available at a heavily discounted price tag of $99 at Best Buy electronics store.HP opted to slash TouchPad’s price by $250 in an effort to recover part of the $100 million it was expected to lose because of the decision to stop selling the tablets, according to an article in www.thenextweb.com.
Just last month, HP released a 31-second TV ad featuring Pacquiao, the Saranggani lawmaker who is also acknowledged as the best fighter pound-for-pound on the planet today.
The ad shows Pacquiao discussing how he conquered doubts about his boxing skills, political acumen, and lately, his ability to make it as a singer. All the while, he is holding a TouchPad in front of his face, flicking through its variety of features.“Now, I’m trying to make it in music,” the congressman says in the ad, which shows a clip of his duet with Dan Hill as they sing “Sometimes When We Touch.“Haha, millions of hits,” he ends, referring to the song’s online clip.
In an article in www.zdnet.com, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes identified four reasons behind TouchPad’s downfall.
Among them was what he called “The iPad Effect,” referring to the popular gadget manufactured by Jobs’ Apple Inc., which became the world’s biggest company earlier this month.“In order to try to compete with the iPad, HP developed a tablet with a design and the tech specs similar to that of the iPad, priced it like the iPad, spent a ton of money on commercials featuring celebrities, and pushed the tablet out to big retailers in huge quantities,” he wrote. “And still no one cared about the TouchPad.”The reason, he pointed out, was that “people are buying the iPad not because it’s a tablet, but because it is an iPad.”“Apple has NOT carved out a market for tablets, Apple carved out a market for the iPad. Think about it: When Apple released the iPod back in 2001, did this create an enormous market for media players? No. It created an enormous market for the iPod,” he said.
Top golfer Tiger Woods has unveiled a mobile application called “Tiger Woods: My Swing” for iPhone and iPod users, which will give them a chance to improve their swing through video analysis from the golfer, swing comparison with Woods’ and give them tips to improve.
“It’s a way for every one of you or anyone who participates in the game of golf to use the same technology that I use on a daily basis,” New York Daily News quoted Woods as saying.
Although his own swing is not in top form, Woods claims that he wants to help fans perfect their swing.
The application, which was launched on Wednesday costs 10 dollars and claims to help golfers.
Half of the proceeds from the application sales will go to charity. Though the application may seem expensive, it has gotten amazing reviews from users so far and has claimed the top spot on the iTunes charts.
One user wrote,” I love the videos of Tiger being himself and having fun with the guys, very cool app, great job!” (ANI).
Hope Solo and Abby Wambach arrived back in the United States following their team's upset loss to Japan in the Women's World Cup final deflated, disappointed but imminently more marketable.
Solo is far from the stratosphere of the highest-paid female athletes, which is occupied by the likes of the Williams sisters and Patrick, but she's making quick progress, said Wasserman Media Group's Richard Motzkin, who has managed Solo for 10 years.
"I think, honestly, we're doing it," he said. "When you're an individual-sport athlete and you're highly successful, it's an easier pathway. For female athletes on a team sport, outside of Mia [Hamm], there aren't many that come up in the mainstream conversation, and quite honestly that's what we're trying to do with Hope, to align her with companies that will use her in mainstream marketing campaigns, not just female soccer-related campaigns."
Since the end of the World Cup, Solo has signed multiyear endorsement deals with Gatorade, Bank of America, BlackBerry, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts that are believed to exceed seven figures. Motzkin mined his contacts at ABC during the World Cup to land Solo on "Dancing with the Stars." The show has a weekly average of 17.5 million viewers and is an express train to the middle class of consumers. It can help an athlete such as Solo become a major marketing player by "helping build her brand well beyond her soccer playing days into some long-term staying power," Motzkin said.
Considered T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G but not yet convinced? Â The carrier understands your reticence, and so to swing things in their favor they’ve done the obvious thing and enlisted the help of Whoopi Goldberg. Â Yes, everybody’s favoriteSister Actstar not only loves the myTouch 3G, but enough to grin aimlessly while playing with it on video.
Whoopi is joined by Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson and TV personality/motorcycle maven (yes, that’s T-Mobile’s description) Jessie James.  Each of them are keen – nay, overjoyed – to be able to share with you how they use the myTouch 3G, though they won’t actually tell you out loud (perhaps because that cost significantly more?)
So, Phil says the Android smartphone (aka the HTC Magic) “is a miracle tool” while Whoopi apparently uses it to find hot-dogs and Jessie likens the customized wallpapers and other fettling T-Mobile offer to his own tattoos. Â If this slab of celebrity endorsement has swung you over to the Android side, you’ll be ecstatic to know that the T-Mobile myTouch 3G is available right now, priced at $199.99.
