Jennifer Capriati, winner of back-to-back Grand Slam tournament titles, is not alone in her comeback on the tennis court.
Fila, who outfitted six-time French Open champion Bjorn Borg in the 1970s and early '80s, is pinning its hopes on Capriati to rejuvenate the Italian shoe and apparel company's market share. With Capriati sporting its '70s-retro outfits during this |  | | Jennifer Capriati, sporting a retro-style tennis outfit, continued her comeback Saturday by winning the French Open women's title. |
year's French Open, Fila cashed in on the rebounding tennis star who found center stage again during Saturday's women's championship match.
"Everybody in the world knew who Jennifer Capriati was and her comeback mirrored ours," said Howe Burch, senior vice president of sports marketing for Fila USA. "She's Italian, she had great success before running into some problems and she was committed to making a comeback. No one was willing to take a chance and we thought, given that the upside potential was pretty significant, that it was a risk worth taking."
A risk worth as much as $4.4 million, according to Sponsorship Information Services.
Fila's logoed hat was featured for 8 minutes, 47 seconds during Capriati's finals match, exposure worth an estimated $2.46 million, according to SIS, a sponsorship evaluation company. The Fila logo on her shirt sleeve could be seen for another 4 minutes, 21 seconds, an approximate $1.2 million value. In all, Fila's logos -- also plastered on the front of her shirt, her skirt and her wristband -- were seen a total of 15 minutes and 45 seconds in the 2-hour, 21-minute long match.
No matter how many times the Oil of Olay commercial aired during the early '90s, the police mug shot of Jennifer Capriati taken -- clad in her leopard-print shirt, with a piece of hair covering a portion of her left eye -- was the image that corporate America thought society would remember most.
After getting caught for shoplifting just five months before, Capriati was arrested for possession of marijuana on May 16, 1994. And as the mug shot found its way onto television screens and the covers of magazines and newspapers across the country, her clothing sponsor, Diadora, and her racquet sponsor, Prince, reportedly terminated their contracts with Capriati. And Oil of Olay let its three-year, $2 million deal with Capriati expire three months after the incident.
"At the time it was a much larger perceived hit than it actually was," said Bob Williams, president of Burns Sports, a sports marketing firm. "Spokespeople come and go pretty quickly and they just removed her. But it was a shock, given that the female athlete is stereotypically far less controversial and less likely to appear on the police blotter than their male counterparts are."
Five years later, Capriati made her first big move in her comeback in May 1999, climbing 62 spots in the world ranks, from No. 115 to No. 53. It wasn't long before Prince came back, too. And Fila began talking to Capriati's representatives.
In December 1999, Fila signed Capriati to a three-year endorsement deal largely based on performance incentives, including bonuses for Grand Slam events, smaller-tier tournaments and rankings. To further minimize its risk, Fila insured the bonuses with Special Risk Advisors International LLC.
Fila owns just 2 percent of the $800 million U.S. tennis footwear and apparel industry, Burch said. Its losses worldwide have surpassed $60 million each of the past two years, according to the company's annual reports.
"Instead of doing the deal all in up-front dollars, contracts are more bonus-oriented these days," said Michael Wright, president of Special Risk Advisors. Wright would not disclose the premium Fila paid for the insurance coverage or how much his company will pay for Capriati's latest Grand Slam title.
Capriati, ranked No. 4 behind Martina Hingis (Adidas), Venus Williams (Reebok) and Lindsay Davenport (Nike), is without a doubt the star of Fila's tennis division. While the company has 18-year-old Jelena Dokic, who ranked No. 16 in Monday's latest Sanex WTA Tour rankings, the Fila men aren't doing nearly as well. Aussie Mark Philippousis, who finished 11th in the ATP Tour rankings last year, has slipped to No. 61 after missing both the Australian Open and French Open because of two knee surgeries in the past six months. South African Wayne Ferreira, who has never ended the year lower than No. 50 in the past 10 years on the tour, is now ranked 77th.
Less than two years after signing her, Capriati might be Fila's "most prominent athlete in the world," Burch said. That's for a company that boasts a roster that includes Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa, New York Knicks forward Larry Johnson and golfer Lee Janzen.
Much like success on the court has forced Madison Avenue to take a much closer look at NBA MVP Allen Iverson, who has had various run-ins with police over the past five years, expect there to be more calls for Capriati.
|
“ |
Her platform for endorsements is tremendous. She has come from that very low point in her life and now we're seeing the reemergence of the all-American girl with a great smile. ” |
|
|
— Bob Basché, a sports marketing and consulting expert |
"Her platform for endorsements is tremendous," said Bob Basché, a managing partner of Millsport LLC, a sports marketing and consulting firm. "She has come from that very low point in her life and now we're seeing the reemergence of the all-American girl with a great smile. If I was consulting with a client for a potential endorsement (with Capriati), I'd say her past wouldn't hamper my encouragement for any kind of agreement."
Basché, who has been a producer and consultant for NBC's coverage of Wimbledon for the past 23 years, said U.S. Open sponsors could immediately capitalize on Capriati's success.
"(The mug shot) has been forgotten for the most part," Williams said. "She's going through the process of endorsement rehabilitation, just like Magic Johnson has been going through. Magic still hasn't gotten back to where he was and the best-case scenario for Jennifer seems to be to get back to the level where she once was. But it will be tough because there's a half of a dozen great options right now in the endorsement world in women's tennis."
Officials at Fila are aware that Capriati is a hot commodity and Burch said contract extension talks already have begun with Barbara Perry, Capriati's IMG agent.
While Prince boasts Juan Carlos Ferrero, Patrick Rafter and Jan Michael Gambill on the men's side, Capriati is the only woman Prince endorser in the top 20 in the Sanex WTA Tour rankings. The company has no specific plans to use Capriati in television ads, but will produce a poster to commemorate her French Open title, as it did following the Australian Open, according to Linda Glassel, a sports promotions consultant for Prince.
Glassel said the company has only had one specific player racquet -- with Michael Chang -- and there are no immediate plans to design a Capriati racquet. "We plan to utilize her in all of our marketing efforts and increase her visibility with us, since her success is, obviously, a win-win situation for the both of us," Glassel said.
The Sanex WTA Tour doesn't have any reservations about marketing Capriati, either. "Anything we do promotionally, we'll highlight her," said Chris DeMaria, the tour's vice president of communications. "It's a great story that people want to follow and it's a great example of somebody who didn't give up on herself."
"There's still many situations where the press wants to attach things to her past and she would obviously prefer not to talk about it. At the same time, it isn't a comeback without talking about the negative parts."
Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.
 Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|
|
ALSO SEE
Capriati says she can't wait for
Wimbledon
Capriati outlasts Clijsters to win French Open at last
AUDIO/VIDEO
 ESPN.com's Darren Rovell relates Jennifer Capriati's recent success to her re-emergence on the endorsement scene.
wav: 1474 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
