During every Olympics, one member of Team USA comes out of nowhere to become the nation’s golden child — the athlete who captures a Gold Medal and become the symbol of the Games. And with that fame comes endorsement opportunities on top of endorsement opportunities.
Gregg Clifton of Octagon Worldwide thinks his client, softball superstar Jennie Finch, will fit that description. He’s banking on Finch coming home from Athens as the “It” girl of the Summer Games.
“We’d be foolish if we weren’t counting on that happening,” said Clifton from his Scottsdale, AZ office.
Though the 23-year-old Finch is already well known for being named ESPN Page 2’s Hottest Female Athlete of 2003, beating out reigning champ Anna Kornikova, Clifton’s prediction could be right on target. The U.S.’s women’s swimming and gymnastics teams have so much depth that not one athlete stands out, and the BALCO scandal is affecting the marketing opportunities of track and field athletes such as Marion Jones.
Even though Finch plays a team sport, Clifton points out that Finch is “a very grounded individual. She knows that you’re only as good as the rest of your team.”
Clifton notes that marketing Finch was a challenge, despite her popularity, because softball did not have a professional stage to compete on [National Pro Fastpitch was on hiatus when she graduated from the University of Arizona, where she won an NCAA record 60-straight games]. However, Team USA’s “Aiming For Athens” tour, which ended Saturday in Stratford, CT, helped keep her in the public eye as an athlete.
Despite getting a signature deal with Mizuno USA that put her name on shoes, bats and gloves, a segment host with Major League Baseball’s syndicated television show This Week In Baseball and endorsement deals with 24 Hour Fitness, Bank of America, Sprint, and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, Finch said she hasn’t let her accomplishments sink in.
“The last two years have been such a whirlwind that I really haven’t even realized what it’s been about,” Finch said after pitching an inning in a win over the Stratford Brakettes on Saturday. “It’s been great, and God has blessed me in so many different ways and opened so many doors to let me do what so many other softball players haven’t had the opportunity to do.”
Network
