The other night on NBA Coast to Coast, John Saunders, Greg Anthony, Tim Legler and Swin Cash debated who the MVP of the league was. The only two players discussed, and the only faces shown in the caption at the bottom of the screen, were Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash.
Nowitzki and Nash, former teammates, play for the top two teams in the NBA, respectively — Dallas and Phoenix. Last night, the two played in arguably the best regular season NBA game since the Lakers came back from 30 against the Mavericks in December of ’02, a triple-overtime affair that saw Nash hit a game-tying three and Nowitzki have a rare miss on a shot that would have sent the game to a third overtime.
While LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Gilbert Arenas are in countless advertisements for various shoe companies (Nike, Converse and Adidas, respectively), Nash and Nowitzki are hardly seen on television — outside of actual game play. Nash is one of several NBA players in Nike’s “Second coming” ad, but that isn’t an individual endorsement (and its not necessarily a mark of greatness, either, as Rasheed Wallace and Jermaine O’Neal are also in the ad).
Nash isn’t the only two-time consecutive MVP to be ignored; when Tim Duncan won back-to-back MVPs in 2002 and 2003, he didn’t get any endorsement deals either. But unlike Duncan, whose style of play is simultaneously effective and painfully dry, Nash is a flashy, Magic Johnson-like point guard who has electrified the city of Phoenix and the entire NBA. The year before Nash arrived in Phoenix, the NBA hit its low point in average scoring. In the two years after, thanks in large part to the run and gun style of the Phoenix Suns, scoring has risen across the league.
Nash’s effect on the NBA, and on the previously moribund Phoenix Suns, hasn’t led to a major ratings renaissance (the increased ratings in last year’s playoffs can be attributed to larger markets and stars like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade), but one would still expect that he would have at least one individual ad.
Dirk Nowitzki isn’t in any advertisements either, despite being the star of a perennial playoff team that made the NBA Finals last year. Nowitzki is far from boring; the German star of the Dallas Mavericks brings a fire and intensity to every game that stars like Duncan lack. Despite putting up MVP-like numbers this year, and despite being one of a select group of NBA players that fans expect to hit big shots down the stretch, Nowitzki’s last advertisement was a 2003 American Express ad that featured the entire Dallas Mavericks team (an internationally themed ad that ended with then-coach Don Nelson taking on a Canadian accent and calling then-Maverick Nash a “hoser”).
Nowitzki may have fire and passion, but he also has an ear for David Hasselhoff. In other words, he doesn’t have the ‘cool’ factor of a Wade or a LeBron.
“We’ve figured out why Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki, despite scoring 50 points in a Game 5 victory of massive import and generally making that leap into alpha dog status that we require of all our superstars, always fails to appropriately inspire us the way that, say, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, even Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan can. It’s because Dirk Nowitzki isn’t cool.”
Nowitzki, for one, is a big man. Centers and power forwards, with noted contemporary exceptions like Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Garnett, are generally overlooked when it comes to advertising. They lack the free-form grace of guards, they generally don’t fly through the air for dunks, and they are usually big and clunky. Nowitzki’s game is far from that of a traditional big man; he has the speed and range of a guard. Still, with his size, he would be better served advertising-wise if he dominated the paint with the ferocity of an O’Neal. Flying guards and dominant big men have the superhero-type skills that sell sneakers.
More important than his actual skill is the fact that he is German. There aren’t too many foreign stars with major endorsement deals; the ones that do have deals are usually those who have been phenomenonally hyped beyond their actual skill — stars like Pele, Yao or David Beckham, the latter two of whom received exceptional hype in the U.S. before actually playing their first game in the country. Nowitzki didn’t have any hype when he came into the NBA, instead building his skill over time.
Moving to cultural dynamics, the NBA is not popular with overprotective mothers and old white men (which is in many ways to the league’s advantage). However, the league is thriving with young people, especially the male 18-34 demographic. Nowitzki and Nash don’t have the cachet with that demographic that Dwayne Wade has, or Allen Iverson had earlier in the decade. Their personalities lack the brashness of an Iverson or even of a Wade.
To expound on that in a controversial way: as clean-cut athletes, the two are less appetizing to advertisers who are trying to attract the NBA’s demographic. ‘Clean-cut’ athletes, generally white and Hispanic athletes (with exceptions like Derek Jeter, Tiki Barber, and Tiger Woods), appeal to mainstream audiences. They aren’t associated with a specific type of music or a specific culture.
One isn’t likely to find a black NBA player who has avoided being slapped with a label by national sportswriters (Tim Duncan might be the only one). Bigots like Jason Whitlock and Gary Thorne have done everything in their power to reinforce the idea that every black NBA player not only listens to hip-hop but also owns a gun and a license to kill. Despite that, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade have managed to become both clean-cut and edgy at the same time; both athletes have the ability to appeal to mainstream audiences, but both are still (as black NBA players) associated with hip-hop and ‘hip-hop culture’.
In sports, clean-cut athletes are marketed differently than edgy athletes. Athletes like Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, and Peyton Manning are usually not going to be seen in commercials with hip-hop or any type of mainstream music in the background. Their ads range from humorous (Peyton Manning’s advertisements especially) to more upscale (the Movado watch ads that feature Brady and Jeter). Clean-cut ads feature clean-cut athletes in clean-cut settings (Manning’s commercials take place in a supermarket and a suburban living room) and are generally tailored to more mainstream audiences. These ads don’t play nearly as well with the M 18-34 demo as a fast-paced ad with bold, aggressive music and an in-your-face style.
It is rare to find any of the star ‘clean-cut’ athletes in edgy advertisements. One isn’t likely to see Alex Rodriguez turn to the camera and say “You a fool”, or see Manning and Brady in a “Second coming” type ad. Edgy advertisements aren’t for mainstream audiences, instead tailored to young, generally male viewers.
Nowitzki and Nash are far from edgy, which may play a bigger role than any racial dynamic. Being clean-cut hurts them, as the NBA lacks the mainstream appeal of Major League Baseball or the NFL. The league doesn’t necessarily need to appeal to mainstream audiences, and doesn’t necessarily need the approval of Joe Sixtysevenyearold in Boston. Instead, the league, and its advertisers, need to look ‘cool’ in order to appeal to the people who are actually watching.
Nowitzki and Nash are great players, and likely Hall of Fame players. However, like Tim Duncan, they are too clean cut for an edgy sport, and thereby not attractive to advertisers.
