marketing

Sport Management Review 17 (2014) 97–106

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Sport Management Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smr

Branding athletes: Exploration and conceptualization of athlete brand image
Akiko Arai a, Yong Jae Ko a,*, Stephen Ross b a b

University of Florida, United States
University of Minnesota, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 21 December 2011
Received in revised form 26 April 2013
Accepted 27 April 2013
Available online 14 June 2013

In this study, the current issues of athlete brand management are discussed and the construct of athlete brand image is conceptualized. A conceptual model of athlete brand image (MABI) is developed incorporating three key dimensions: athletic performance, attractive appearance, and marketable lifestyle. These dimensions are defined by an athlete’s on-field characteristics, attractive external appearance, and off-field marketable attributes. This study contributes to the sport branding literature by providing the first comprehensive conceptual framework of athlete brand image and offering managerial implications for building and managing the brand image of individual athletes. ß 2013 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by
Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Athlete
Brand management
Brand image
Conceptual model

1. Introduction
Recently, many athletes have been expanding their influence beyond their sport by getting involved in a variety of social activities and businesses. In light of modern media culture, those athletes are considered ‘‘a social sign, carrying cultural meanings and ideological values, which express the intimacies of individual personality, inviting desire and identification; an emblem of national celebrity, founded on the body, fashion and personal style’’ (Gledhill, 1991, p. xiii). The concept of
‘athlete brand’ has emerged from

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