Andrew Thompson
Andrew Thompson
Marketing 4200
Maria Sharapova: Marketing a Champion (A)
Case Assignment Questions
1. (a) Should Max Eisenbud and the other members of “team Sharapova” engage in the Motorola partnership? Explain. b) Should they consider any of the other possibilities? Explain.
After the tournament when Kournikova could not reach her mother with her unbranded cell phone, Motorola had the idea of sponsoring Kournikova. I personally believe that this was a great idea. It was, at the article said, a perfect storm for her. She was pinned against an opponent that was better than her, and won. She actually was a long short during the entire tournament. When she beat Williams and Motorola wanted to sponsor her, it could be viewed as her lucky break. Almost all athletes that are popular have lucrative deals with companies, and I do not believe that a Motorola sponsorship would have hurt her brand at all. As she said in the article, win first and then the money will come. However, it probably should not go without being mentioned that she never reached the top while being sponsored. Her time spent in advertising and marketing could correlate with her decline on the tennis court. It becomes clear with all her endorsements she began to lose focus on the court. It may have been because instead of focusing on her tennis skill, she became a jack-of-all-trades. She became very focused on marketing herself, where if she had stuck to her plan as a child, she may have eventually taken the number one spot. This is highly doubtful, however, being that Serena Williams has dominated women’s tennis during this time. b. There were other possibilities that could have been explored that could have possibly let Maria still focus on being the best tennis player in the world without spending all her time advertising. She could have done more unglamorous advertising such as Nike, Hanes, etc., where she could have just worn wristbands or socks
Marketing 4200
Maria Sharapova: Marketing a Champion (A)
Case Assignment Questions
1. (a) Should Max Eisenbud and the other members of “team Sharapova” engage in the Motorola partnership? Explain. b) Should they consider any of the other possibilities? Explain.
After the tournament when Kournikova could not reach her mother with her unbranded cell phone, Motorola had the idea of sponsoring Kournikova. I personally believe that this was a great idea. It was, at the article said, a perfect storm for her. She was pinned against an opponent that was better than her, and won. She actually was a long short during the entire tournament. When she beat Williams and Motorola wanted to sponsor her, it could be viewed as her lucky break. Almost all athletes that are popular have lucrative deals with companies, and I do not believe that a Motorola sponsorship would have hurt her brand at all. As she said in the article, win first and then the money will come. However, it probably should not go without being mentioned that she never reached the top while being sponsored. Her time spent in advertising and marketing could correlate with her decline on the tennis court. It becomes clear with all her endorsements she began to lose focus on the court. It may have been because instead of focusing on her tennis skill, she became a jack-of-all-trades. She became very focused on marketing herself, where if she had stuck to her plan as a child, she may have eventually taken the number one spot. This is highly doubtful, however, being that Serena Williams has dominated women’s tennis during this time. b. There were other possibilities that could have been explored that could have possibly let Maria still focus on being the best tennis player in the world without spending all her time advertising. She could have done more unglamorous advertising such as Nike, Hanes, etc., where she could have just worn wristbands or socks