The Jordan Effect!

Jordan put the sports marketing game on it's ear!

I constantly hear people saying how dry and bland Derrick Rose is and how he will never be the star that Jordan was because he can't present himself like the former Bulls star did. Look folks, don't panic because he seems not to have any personality because Jordan didn't either at his age. Mike came into the league in 1984 after being in college for three years and still wasn't the polished guy we see today.

However, in 1986 Michael Jordan turned the sports marketing game on it's ear. The Air Jordan shoe came out and the rest is history but if you can remember he didn't do any of the talking in those commercials. Spike Lee as "Mars Blackman" did and Jordan just dunked and hung on the rim. "Do you know, Do you know, Do you know" was the slogan. Sounds funny now but that took off like wild fire and the Jordan Brand was born.

Other professional athletes were already marketing products well before Jordan did but no one had the effect that Jordan had on Madison Ave. I can remember O.J. Simpson running through airports for Hertz in the 1970's. Mean Joe Greene had the coolest Coca Cola commercial with the kid following him down the tunnel after the game and he then throws the kid his jersey. So I'm not saying that Jordan invented the game. He just took it to another level but it took him some time.

Derrick Rose is only in his third year in the league and he only went to college for a year. So he's younger than Jordan was during his third year. He'll be alright in a couple of years. They'll get him up to speed. If you can remember, Jordan was a country kid from North Carolina when he came to the Windy City and he sounded every bit of it. It wasn't long before he lost the southern accent and he was Mr. Sports Marketing.

Rose just needs to hire a strong team of people to get him up to speed vocally. He can speak well now he just needs to come out of his shell. The problem is, most of these kids that come into professional sports don't realize how much money can be made off of the court or field until it's too late.

One person that understood it from day one was Shaq. This guy came into the game with so much charisma that they just threw money at him. I mean he didn't leave an ounce of it on the table. He was making albums regardless of what you thought of his rapping skills. The guy went platinum several times. He was the McDonald's Big Breakfast guy and the Pepsi guy etc. He's even doing Comcast now and he's not even relevant on the court these days. His personality made him a very rich man.

So in my opinion, if D. Rose can get comfortable enough to follow the leads of guys like Deion Sanders, Shaq and even LeBron he'll be alright. Now granted he doesn't have their personalities but if he can just open up Madison Ave will pay him a boat load of money because he plays in a major market. LeBron was in lowly Cleveland and got $90 million dollars from Nike before he even graduated from high school.

There is no reason that any kid playing sports that is pegged as the next "whoever" shouldn't be working on his charm and vocal skills at the same level as his game right now. There is more money in endorsements than there is in playing any sport. However, your game has to be tight to get the endorsement deal.

I'll leave you with this. Jordan only made $3 million per year playing with the Bulls during those championship runs. He made all of his money in endorsements and he was worth more than a half a billion dollars by the time he retired. Also the endorsement don't put wear and tear on the body. If you don't believe me just ask Tiger Woods who at one point was making over $100 million in marketing deals. His extra marital affairs cost him millions in endorsements that he couldn’t win enough tournaments to make up at this point.

 Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport