A journalist asked me the other day why is Brady shying away from commercials or is there a strategy? What’s the difference between these two titans and what’s their strategy from a brand perspective as we’re talking about the cool guy and the nice guy.
Tom Brady is a luxury brand like a high-end Porsche and in the world of luxury brands you’re held to a higher standard and are defined by the company you keep; any sub association (with brands of less status) dilutes brand reputation. For Brady the appropriate brand strategy is a ‘branded house’ – a brand that’s marketed as luxury with closely aligned luxury brands like Gucci and Prada.
Let’s face it Brady’s super talented, super good looking with a beautiful wife (Gizelle)
and a diamond life, but because Brady is the Tom Ford of Football he has limited commercial appeal as he’s clearly not the right profile for “everyman” brand commercials and endorsement deals chiefly because he’s too cool and distant for those types of mainstream brands.
On the other hand Peyton Manning is forever new with many iterations and has a ‘house of brands’ brand strategy similar
to a P&G model that has a diverse portfolio of “everyman” mainstream brands that fit well with Manning’s close and personal persona. A persona that’s devoutly practical like a Ford F150 that captures a great America story; Manning came from nothing and became something great. He doesn’t have the looks, but he’s an all American with a brand that can stretch across many different types of everyman brand endorsements and commercials as we’re witness. It’s tough to have a monopoly on, but the strategy is clearly working very well.
PUNCH & KISS 